With the finale to the "The Twilight Saga" winding down in Fall 2012, Hollywood's Young Adult film market faced an oncoming power vacuum. "Beautiful Creatures" seized the opportunity to take a position that the "Hunger Games" had begun to move in on but succeeded only in pulling off one of the most stellar financial under-performances of 2013
Set in the Southern USA and following the relationship of high school junior Ethan Wate and new girl Lena Duchannes, the two teens are forced to weather the turbulence of Ethan's discovery that her and her family are "casters" (in essence, witches). The film follows their relationship as Ethan becomes more entangled in the magical occurrences of a bible thumping South as well as the danger of Lena's coming of age.
What Went Right
In a stark contrast to a great many of its peers, "Beautiful Creatures" actually has a lot of genuinely good things going for it. For starters, it may be the only film chasing "Twilight's" success that actually executes the romantic elements far better than "Twilight."
Ethan and Lena actually feel like fairly fleshed out characters. Ethan's status as an open minded and book smart individual that is charismatic, respectful and isolated within a faith based community that shuts out logic in favor of fallacies based on blind faith is a breath of fresh air compared to the plethora of "humble" Mary Sues with attitude that dominate the genre. He's relatable, likable and his connection with the new girl who has earned the ire of her peers by being capable of holding interests beyond those of small country town gossip and functions is well played while the actors share plenty of chemistry with one another.
In fact, the entire cast feels delightfully lively and rich, unlike the dour atmosphere put up by competition. The A-listers of the ensemble cast, including Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Viola Davis actually bring their talents to the table in order to spice up the material rather than phone in a check for name recognition.
Meanwhile, Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert actually carry their material solidly, which can include passable exposition regarding the story of a lore that's actually pretty fascinating and dialogue that's surprisingly witty and sharp. In a surprising twist, their a substantial amount of effort and creativity was put into "Beautiful Creatures," laughing at the petty and melodramatc tendencies of YA films to view teenage issues as life or death in the face of bigger problems and even turning the tired cliché of flaky teenage romance into a metaphor for maturity that is actually deceptively clever.
And, if nothing else, it forces me to apologize to actress Zoey Deutch, who I criticized rather harshly as the lead in "Vampire Academy" for a lack of acting ability. While she certainly doesn't give an Oscar performance here as the insufferable queen bee with an ego of her small town high school, she does server her purpose solidly and shows that Vampire Academy was clearly just a black hole of entertainment regardless of talent.
I apologize if it seems that I may have liked this one; that a teen marketed supernatural romance may have won over the favor of a 23 year old man that couldn't be any more outside of its core demographic but in all honesty, I actually enjoyed myself more than not.
Meanwhile, Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert actually carry their material solidly, which can include passable exposition regarding the story of a lore that's actually pretty fascinating and dialogue that's surprisingly witty and sharp. In a surprising twist, their a substantial amount of effort and creativity was put into "Beautiful Creatures," laughing at the petty and melodramatc tendencies of YA films to view teenage issues as life or death in the face of bigger problems and even turning the tired cliché of flaky teenage romance into a metaphor for maturity that is actually deceptively clever.
And, if nothing else, it forces me to apologize to actress Zoey Deutch, who I criticized rather harshly as the lead in "Vampire Academy" for a lack of acting ability. While she certainly doesn't give an Oscar performance here as the insufferable queen bee with an ego of her small town high school, she does server her purpose solidly and shows that Vampire Academy was clearly just a black hole of entertainment regardless of talent.
I apologize if it seems that I may have liked this one; that a teen marketed supernatural romance may have won over the favor of a 23 year old man that couldn't be any more outside of its core demographic but in all honesty, I actually enjoyed myself more than not.
What Went Wrong
That's not to say that the film is great by any stretch of the imagination great but seeing exactly where it falls short is rather baffling.
For all the praise that I've given the film's writing and stupendous sense of direction, the biggest flaw holding "Beautiful Creatures" back is that it feels oddly half completed. Despite the strength of the first half's set up, the rest of the film just feels like it sort of quits. The presence of the film's villain becomes sporadic and inconsistent with no real sense of build up even after her plan is revealed. Additionally, after Ethan and Lena make the decision to be together, they don't really do much beyond giggle and look at each other dreamily when they aren't undergoing montages of waiting for the imminent threat.
The screenplay feels unfortunately padded out to feature length from what felt more like a cool pilot to a television series. A CW television series, granted, but one with potential nevertheless.
What Went Wrong
"Beautiful Creatures'" box office failure is something that I'm still trying to figure out to this day. March may not be known for quality film releases but to barely even break even?
Mixed critical reception aside, the best guess I can think of puts it in the same boat as "City of Bones'" and "Vampire Academy's" failures; marketing overestimating the reach of its core demographic. While sizable, the fanbase of the "Caster Chronicles" clearly wasn't big enough to turn out a profit.
To make this one successful, Warner Bros. probably should have broadened the appeal beyond the usual teenybopper crowd and "Twilight" audience. A true shame because, sloppiness aside, they could have very well succeeded in striking an interest.
"Beautiful Creatures" may be problematic but its effort expended for a genre that is earning infamy for laziness is highly commendable. How this will fade into obscurity while a "Percy Jackson" sequel was allowed to see the light of day is beyond me.
Mixed critical reception aside, the best guess I can think of puts it in the same boat as "City of Bones'" and "Vampire Academy's" failures; marketing overestimating the reach of its core demographic. While sizable, the fanbase of the "Caster Chronicles" clearly wasn't big enough to turn out a profit.
To make this one successful, Warner Bros. probably should have broadened the appeal beyond the usual teenybopper crowd and "Twilight" audience. A true shame because, sloppiness aside, they could have very well succeeded in striking an interest.
"Beautiful Creatures" may be problematic but its effort expended for a genre that is earning infamy for laziness is highly commendable. How this will fade into obscurity while a "Percy Jackson" sequel was allowed to see the light of day is beyond me.
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