Beastly -- REVIEW

There is something fun about film adaptations to pieces of literature.  Granted there are some books that should NEVER be messed with, but there are others that have potential of being something... well... interesting. Beastly is a fun book for what it is, and I feel that Young Adult lit is kind of one of those "touchy" areas because kids and teens read at different levels and have such a wide variety of interests that it quickly becomes one of those "agree to disagree" zones.  Alex Flinn's YA novel is an interesting modern twist to the classic 'Beauty and the Beast' tale.  The concept is fun and I like that it's trying to get new generations into the "classic fairy tales", however being a slightly older YA reader I did hope the film adaptation would help mature the story just enough that slightly older audiences would be able to enjoy the story as well.  The film, however, was a monster all of its own.

Beastly ultimately feels like it is a film meant for audiences 12 and under.  Although I loved that the art director decided to take the beast in a different direction than the traditional furry animal, I found that the tattoos and scars were a fun concept.  Granted I could not take my eyes off the words that were tattooed on Alex Pettyfer's in place of his eyebrows (Embrace Suck) and found it extremely distracting.  Aside from the unusual take on what makes a beast I found little else to be enjoyable about the film.  I'm not saying that I don't enjoy watching "pretty people" in movies, however my sympathy for the main character was not developed well enough for me to really care what happened to him over the course of the film.  I also think that transition from page to screen is difficult when you have "older" actors playing younger characters and it is made even worse when the film character is older than the novel character and yet the behaviors are exactly the same.  I almost wish they would have just told the story of a 16 year old boy suffering rather than a kid who shouldn't even be in high school because the believability of the actions just falls apart.  It is a problem I also found with Alex Pettyfer's role as John in I Am Number Four.

The best part of Beastly is watching Neil Patrick Harris play a blind guy.  Granted the role does not give him a whole lot to work with, but he definitely helps push the story alone.  The other character I wish they had used more was Mary-Kate Olsen's Kendra.  Although she has been changed slightly from the book, I found her to be the most believable of all the characters.  I wanted her to be a larger influence into the change that Kyle experiences and was saddened that that element of the book was lost.  I also wish the "magic mirror" was included and possibly could have changed the whole feel to the story.  I know that is getting back to the Disney tale and making it too "kiddie", but sometimes I just hope... hope that the things that work in books and have been laid out so well that they just translate over.  I know it is not likely to happen but I can keep dreaming.  I mean it is all fantasy after all.

Over all I give Beastly a 1 out of 5 and the one piece of advice I'd like to throw out into the cyber world...(hoping to be heard - but knowing I wont ) Alex Pettyfer BEWARE of the YA curse.  If you get type casted to only play roles based on childrens lit your reputation as an actor might become limited.