Beautiful Creatures: the movie

I've been kind of M.I.A. this week because of midterms and essays but I'm finally able to show you all what I thought of the Beautiful Creatures movie. I read the book a while ago but I do remember most of what happened. If anyone has watched the movie too I would love to here your opinion about it.

For those of you who don't know the story here is the summary of Beautiful Creatures from Goodreads:

"Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything." 

Ethan Wate is our main character who loves banned books and really wants to go anywhere but his home town of Gatlin. The character is portrayed by Alden Ehrenreich who is probably not the person you would expect to play the main role. When I saw him cast and saw a trailer with him I knew that the movie was trying to go for a different feel. I think it was trying to break away a little with him. He was the best part of the movie too. He was intelligent, funny, and was charming. He was the main character and the comic relief. He has this very thick southern accent and I knew when I heard him speaking at the beginning of the movie I was going to have to stop thinking of the Ethan from the movie. I had to try to stop thinking that I knew this story or read the book because like I said they went with a different feel by casting him. He kept me interested in the movie more than anything really and was undeniably loyal to Lena. He actually looked kind of adorable whenever he was reading and had to put his glasses on.

Alice Englert played Lena. Alice is also fairly unknown. Lena was all "woe is me" a lot of the time but not in annoying way you might think because she had this air of confidence some of the time as well as some sarcasm. Alice did a fairly good job from what I can remember Lena was like. She had a little bit of a heavy accent too. By heavy I mean her voice was low and just weighty? If that's even the right word. Ethan had more of a thick accent like you would think a thick accent is but of course you can understand him! Hopefully some of this makes sense. I loved when she showed off her powers. I wish there was even more especially at school. I think that the movie could have had more time at the school and with the townspeople. The townspeople were obviously very religiously but in a way where they were very ignorant. I would have liked to see more tension there. The romance between her and Ethan was sweet. She would push away while he was there for her always like the book. I haven't read the second book but I hope that she becomes even stronger. Now that she doesn't have the weight of her turning 16 and having to deal with those things... I want to see her have even more confidence. 

There's also the situation of the flashes from the past. I thought those could have been done much better. It just didn't feel right at all. I guess the last flashback but that's about it. It was a little too shaky for me. It had one badass moment like Lena had which made up for it a little.

It's kind of weird for me to say but the costumes were a little too much especially towards the end. I wanted to tell Lena that of course you think you are going to go to the dark side look at your clothes! Her cousin, Ridley, did the same thing with the over dramatic clothes. I really liked Ridley. I forgot how she played a role in the story. I wanted to see her more but I understand that she needed to be on the sideline. Emmy Rossum plays Ridley especially since she was in The Phantom of the Opera and The Day After Tomorrow. I think she did a great job especially in her part of the story.

I feel like Macon (Lena's Uncle) was just alright. There was this scene where we first meet him that I thought was kind of awkward and weird. I also forgot what was happening with him and another character. That was a nice surprise. I almost forgot the whole ending too. I feel like there was something missing at the end too. I don't know if it's just me or what but I feel like something else happens too.

There were two other people I wanted to see more of - Ethan's father and Amma. Ethan's father is practically nonexistent! I think he really is too. He must have not contributed that much to the story in the book for him not to be even seen or cast. Amma was played by Viola Davis from The Help and Won't Back Down. She's a fantastic actress. I thought she did well with her role but it was strange seeing her in that role. It didn't look right. I can't really say why. It didn't suit her well but nevertheless she's an amazing actress. Another thing I forgot about (I forgot a lot of things I know) was Sarafine. How could I forget Sarafine and the major role she played? She's the bad guy for those of you who don't know. I don't want to ruin anything so I thought I would just say Emma Thompson does such an amazing job. I was completely convinced of both sides of her personality. Maybe one time it was kind of weird and funny but all the other times she played her part well. 

In the end I thought this was a good movie. Not as much different from the book as you might imagine. There were parts a little over top and the flashbacks weren't done that well. Try not to think of the book too much when you watch the movie and you should be fine. I don't know whether to recommend it to you to watch at the movie theater or rent it when it comes out. I think I'm in the middle. I kind of want to watch it again so I don't have all these pretenses before I watch the movie again. I will wait for the move to come out on DVD for that though. If you are a die hard fan of the series then maybe wait. If you are neutral I think it's safe to say you will enjoy the movie more because you won't be analyzing it as much as the die hard fans. I would love to know what others think about the book and movie. Did you love it? Hate it? Or did you think it was alright?