Ethan (Ehrenreich) is having dreams about a girl hes never met and longing to leave his Southern small town home. When Lina (Englert) arrives in school hes immediately drawn to her but Lina and her family, led by reclusive Uncle Macon (Irons), hide da
by Helen O'Hara |
Published on
Release Date:
13 Feb 2013
Running Time:
124 minutes
Certificate:
12A
Original Title:
Beautiful Creatures
The course of true love never did run smooth, particularly for teenagers and especially when one has a supernatural secret. This time, it’s witchcraft – or in the film’s parlance, “casting” – rather than, say, vampirism, but there’s a curse to spice up the small town soap of this novel adaptation.
The film has followed the familiar formula of casting unknown leads in Ehrenreich and Englert, both fine, and surrounding them with serious actors cashing in – Davis, Thompson and Irons – but sticks too closely to the book’s complicated and overlong plot. Lacking in action and not quite charming enough to compensate, this falls a little flat.
Had this adaptation of the young adult fantasy-romance taken a few more liberties, it might have been a home run.
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