Young actors bomb, veteran cast thrives in mystical teen film
After the teenage phenomenon known as the “Twilight” series finally ended, a query came to mind about how supernatural romances have become the “it” factor for on-screen entertainment for the youth: Is it finally over?
But as we learned from “Warm Bodies,” there is no shortage of supernatural fantasy to occupy the teenage mind.
Take the most recent entry into the otherworldly teen romance genre: “Beautiful Creatures,” another piece of supernatural schmaltz based on some novel that, while not duplicating “Twilight,” maintains quite a few similarities to the genre.
There are some considerable differences here compared to what we have seen in the past. This time around, it’s the female with the supernatural abilities instead of the male, and instead of vampires or zombies, we get witches with heaving bosoms, hearty winks and atrocious Southern accents. But the overall concept is the same: Semi-loner high school student with single parent falls for a mysterious newcomer who’s part of a supernatural family.
Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) is literally the smartest kid in Gatlin, S.C., a town depicted like its been ripped off the script from “Footloose.” He admires writers like Kurt Vonnegut and Charles Bukowski in a social area of hicks who misspell movie titles on the cinema marquee and constantly re-enact the Civil War like it’s going to turn out differently.
Lena (Alice Englert) is the newcomer in town. Everyone but Ethan immediately dislikes her sarcastic and standoffish persona. Her biggest quirk is that she’s a witch (they prefer the term “caster”) who’s about to go through a momentous change on her 16th birthday: Her powers will either turn to the light or the dark.
To quickly touch up on the positives, “Beautiful Creatures” does display a great sense of self-humor about the absurdity of it all. One particular scene deliciously plays on the stereotypical sentimental moment accompanied by rain.
While “Beautiful Creatures” does feature some stronger leads, it constantly forgets to make the romance even the least bit interesting. Ethan and Lena spend too much time mourning, moping and figuring out the rules of the supernatural game that they forget to keep the romance interesting.
This is especially a problem since writer-director Richard LaGravenese prefers to concentrate on the slow-blooming romance, which may disappoint viewers who wished to see the graver portions of the film.
He does wisely make it so the witch special effects aren’t all over the place, but the whole light caster/dark caster struggle just feels too familiar, as if it’s been but skewed toward a female audience that never cared for “Star Wars.”
All of the veteran actors like Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Emmy Rossum not only receive the fancier costumes but are also given the best lines. Although they liven up the movie whenever they are on screen, they still play the stereotypical family members who disapprove of Lena’s relationship with Ethan. It’s just too bad the film isn’t about them.
The best performance would have to be Irons, who approaches the material here as if he knows how to handle it. Playing Lena’s patriarch Uncle Macon, he brings with him a pretty suave presence as the only member of the family who can control his dark powers (I smell sexism).
Due to the film’s tired romance and its inability to find an audience, LaGravenese should heed one of the character’s bit of advice — something about how even Satan hates sequels.