Despite the mixed/average reviews, decided to see 'Beautiful Creatures' anyway as someone who did enjoy the book series, liked the idea of the story, enjoys films that fit under the same genres that this does and who really likes to loves a lot of the cast members in other things. Other than the reviews, what did make me a little nervous too was the constant references by many to the 'Twilight' franchise, am very much indifferent to that franchise to put it lightly and the best film from it ('Eclipse') is only slightly watchable.
Will get the comparisons out of the way. 'Beautiful Creatures' is in my mind much better than any of the 'Twilight' films combined, better made, much better acting (the 'Twilight' films only had like two good actors, whereas even with the accents the acting mostly wasn't an issue for me here) and the story, for all its problems, interested me more. 'Beautiful Creatures' is by no means perfect and would hesitate in calling it great, only generally found it slightly above average, but judging it as a film on its own merits (rather than frequently comparing it to the books, of which the film is a pretty poor adaptation of) it's a better film than given credit for.
Starting with the bad things, 'Beautiful Creatures' would have leant itself better to a film series rather than just one film, because there is a feel (and it was what was pretty much happening) of elements of two or more books in one film, which made it feel rushed and cluttered. The caster mythology could have been delved into much more, because that did tend to be convoluted (anybody who has no knowledge of the books may find themselves lost). Particularly towards the end, before the film ends in a vague and rushed way complete with a clumsy twist, it is not a surprise that book fans found the ending too much of a slap in the face.
Also found some of the earlier portions of 'Beautiful Creatures' to be too exposition heavy, with some clunky dialogue and the pace in need of a tightening up. The Lena's first day at school portion was very badly acted by the secondary cast, was really cringing, and written in a very bad teen school comedy film way. It has been said numerous times about the Southern accents being bad, do agree with it veering on either extreme of come and go (Jeremy Irons, accents never really has been his forte and this is coming from a fan of his) and exaggerated (Alden Ehrenreich) of the main cast. And it's even worse for the secondary cast playing characters that are very broadly stereotypical, that is true of a lot of Southerner portrayals on film, and never feel like real people.
Conversely, 'Beautiful Creatures' is a surprisingly good looking film, it was clear a lot of time, effort and money went into it. Especially loved the locations, with a big standout going to the Ravenwood mansion and the photography is both beautiful and gothic. The costumes are also ni nicely done, the kookiness of those of the Ravenwoods (including Eileen Atkins with a pink wig!) added to their mysteriousness, and the dinner table scene sees some editing and lighting that are wonderfully psychedelic without giving me too much headache or dizziness. The music fits quite nicely too and was hardly unattractive to me on its own, am big on both those things when it comes to music in film so both are good positions to be in.
The script is flawed early on but as the film progressed the snappier, more intriguing and tighter it became. Macon, with the film livening up by quite a bit when he appears, has some of the best lines and that's in his first scene alone. The story isn't perfect, but enough of it does compel with two scenes in particular standing out. One was the dinner table scene, along with Ridley's flashback that was the most striking scene visually, and the other was the Macon and Sarafine confrontation, the chemistry between Irons and Emma Thompson sizzles and seeing a clash of the titans-like moments between two great actors is always great to watch. The likeably natural, no awkwardness here (actually did get the sense that they were in love), chemistry between Ehrenreich and Alice Englert also helps as does the confident direction.
Found Ehrenreich and Englert to mostly not be bad at all in their roles, Ehrenreich's accent is not the best and he overdoes it at times but the quirkiness and likeability is there. While Englert is more subtle without being sullen or expressionless, did root for Lena myself having been treated like an outcast in school for prejudicial reasons too. They are very well supported, outshone even, by the veteran cast, with Atkins and Martina Martindale doing a lot with small roles and Viola Davis bringing sincerity to hers. The authors had Irons in mind when writing Macon and one can tell because not so good accent aside he was made for the character, and he looked like he was having fun while bringing gravitas and menace. Thompson even more so, camping it up deliciously and nearly stealing the film, and the same goes for a truly delightful Emmy Rossum.
Summarising, not quite beautiful but far from ugly. 6/10
Will get the comparisons out of the way. 'Beautiful Creatures' is in my mind much better than any of the 'Twilight' films combined, better made, much better acting (the 'Twilight' films only had like two good actors, whereas even with the accents the acting mostly wasn't an issue for me here) and the story, for all its problems, interested me more. 'Beautiful Creatures' is by no means perfect and would hesitate in calling it great, only generally found it slightly above average, but judging it as a film on its own merits (rather than frequently comparing it to the books, of which the film is a pretty poor adaptation of) it's a better film than given credit for.
Starting with the bad things, 'Beautiful Creatures' would have leant itself better to a film series rather than just one film, because there is a feel (and it was what was pretty much happening) of elements of two or more books in one film, which made it feel rushed and cluttered. The caster mythology could have been delved into much more, because that did tend to be convoluted (anybody who has no knowledge of the books may find themselves lost). Particularly towards the end, before the film ends in a vague and rushed way complete with a clumsy twist, it is not a surprise that book fans found the ending too much of a slap in the face.
Also found some of the earlier portions of 'Beautiful Creatures' to be too exposition heavy, with some clunky dialogue and the pace in need of a tightening up. The Lena's first day at school portion was very badly acted by the secondary cast, was really cringing, and written in a very bad teen school comedy film way. It has been said numerous times about the Southern accents being bad, do agree with it veering on either extreme of come and go (Jeremy Irons, accents never really has been his forte and this is coming from a fan of his) and exaggerated (Alden Ehrenreich) of the main cast. And it's even worse for the secondary cast playing characters that are very broadly stereotypical, that is true of a lot of Southerner portrayals on film, and never feel like real people.
Conversely, 'Beautiful Creatures' is a surprisingly good looking film, it was clear a lot of time, effort and money went into it. Especially loved the locations, with a big standout going to the Ravenwood mansion and the photography is both beautiful and gothic. The costumes are also ni nicely done, the kookiness of those of the Ravenwoods (including Eileen Atkins with a pink wig!) added to their mysteriousness, and the dinner table scene sees some editing and lighting that are wonderfully psychedelic without giving me too much headache or dizziness. The music fits quite nicely too and was hardly unattractive to me on its own, am big on both those things when it comes to music in film so both are good positions to be in.
The script is flawed early on but as the film progressed the snappier, more intriguing and tighter it became. Macon, with the film livening up by quite a bit when he appears, has some of the best lines and that's in his first scene alone. The story isn't perfect, but enough of it does compel with two scenes in particular standing out. One was the dinner table scene, along with Ridley's flashback that was the most striking scene visually, and the other was the Macon and Sarafine confrontation, the chemistry between Irons and Emma Thompson sizzles and seeing a clash of the titans-like moments between two great actors is always great to watch. The likeably natural, no awkwardness here (actually did get the sense that they were in love), chemistry between Ehrenreich and Alice Englert also helps as does the confident direction.
Found Ehrenreich and Englert to mostly not be bad at all in their roles, Ehrenreich's accent is not the best and he overdoes it at times but the quirkiness and likeability is there. While Englert is more subtle without being sullen or expressionless, did root for Lena myself having been treated like an outcast in school for prejudicial reasons too. They are very well supported, outshone even, by the veteran cast, with Atkins and Martina Martindale doing a lot with small roles and Viola Davis bringing sincerity to hers. The authors had Irons in mind when writing Macon and one can tell because not so good accent aside he was made for the character, and he looked like he was having fun while bringing gravitas and menace. Thompson even more so, camping it up deliciously and nearly stealing the film, and the same goes for a truly delightful Emmy Rossum.
Summarising, not quite beautiful but far from ugly. 6/10