Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I feel like I need to preface this by saying the trailer of this movie made me want to read the book. Also, you should know that this review will contain SPOILERS, so do not continue reading if you don't want to know why this movie doesn't do the book justice. When I first saw the movie trailer, I thought to myself it looked like something I would enjoy since I really liked the Twilight series, and I initially saw it as "Twilight except with witches"... errr... "Casters". Since the movie opening was a month away, it left me plenty of time to read the book. I really enjoyed reading Beautiful Creatures and read the entire book (all 550+ pages) very quickly. I knew I'd want to see this movie as soon as I could, so I was sure to make it a showing opening weekend. Overall, I REALLY did not like the movie. I do not feel the movie even scraped the surface of the book. It was more of a hollow shell of the literary version. I understand that with movies you have to keep it brief because at most you have about two and a half hours to communicate the story, but this movie really butchered what was an otherwise good and entertaining story. Having to cram several hundred pages into 2 hours is definitely a feat, but it's been done before and even done WELL before, so that is not even a great excuse for the filmmakers in this case. Things I did not like about the movie: * There was little-to-no character development and the pace was much too quick. From the very beginning, the movie starts at a grueling pace and doesn't even give the audience a chance to soak information in and decide for themselves who these people are or what to make of the story or events. I felt like key scenes or story lines from the book were left out that would have improved the character development exponentially. *To piggy-back on the lack of character development, there was absolutely no connection whatsoever between Lena and Ethan. They are supposed to have such a strong emotional connection that they have dreamt about each other even before meeting each other (these dreams parlay into the following 3 books in the series), and they are supposed to even be able to telepathically talk to each other (which builds in the second story where Lena starts to shut Ethan out and he is left hurt). This movie basically introduced the characters to each other, and then suddenly they love each other. *MAJOR character changes: -Ethan's Mom - Though deceased, Ethan's Mother is supposed to be a very pivotal character throughout the series. She was a Caster Librarian and a genealogical expert which is important to the overall story. Here, she is mentioned once... maybe twice and that is it. -Larkin in the book is a Dark Caster who is actually using his power of illusion to make himself look like a Light Caster. In the end of the literary version, it becomes apparent to the Duchannes that Larkin has actually been fooling them all this time and had betrayed the family. This parlays into Book 2 (Beautiful Darkness) where Lena drives Larkin's car because she can't bear to drive Macon's old car anymore and this leaves Ethan puzzled how she could be in something that belonged to the cousin that betrayed her and her family. In the movie version however, Larkin is just a nice Light Caster who helped Lena in the end against Sarafine. (Did they seriously just do that?) This is one of the biggest ones that bothered me because the feeling of betrayal is a powerful human emotion. It reaches into your gut and pulls your insides out. There was such a great opportunity to make the audience FEEL something, and the film makers did not capitalize on that at all. -Ethan's Dad was pretty much nonexistent in the movie. I don't even think they cast an actor to play his dad? Having read the book, I understand why he was in his study all the time, but people who haven't read the book will never know why. I believe that in the book, Ethan's dad played a role in Ethan's character development... his emotional being that we never got to see in the movie. We all know that Ethan lost his mom, but the audience is not given the opportunity to feel sorry for him because he might lose his dad too (Events in the book that included his dad towards the end were omitted from the movie). Although his role was a small role in the book, I felt it was important nonetheless and it's a shame his character got cut out entirely of the movie. - Marian / Amma - In the film version, Marian's character was consolidated with Amma, and thus eliminated from the movie. Again, I felt this made the story feel rushed... they didn't have enough for Amma in the movie so they made her librarian too. Even with Marian's elimination, Amma's character was very one-dimensional. She didn't do things that she did in the book like give the Wate family "charms" to ward against evil or anything. She just mentioned a few times that she was a Seer, so I guess the audience was supposed to just take her word for it. Character development for Amma left a lot to be desired. The ending of the movie was also disappointing because in the end, Amma should have been there to try to help Lena, but the ending was changed (I'll get to that soon). - Mrs. Lincoln / Sarafine - The movie also consolidated Mrs. Lincoln and Sarafine into one character which completely blew my mind. Although I know in the book it turned out that Sarafine was using Mrs. Lincoln's body, the movie made it seem like Mrs. Lincoln actually WAS Sarafine the entire time. I couldn't understand why they did that, other than because they didn't know how to create that scene at the end where Sarafine "steps out" of Mrs. Lincoln's skin. It can't be that hard, could it? I'm sure the special effects nowadays could have done the job. - Boo Radley - Why did they have to get rid of the dog in the movie?! Did they forget that "caster animals" play a bit of an important role in the second story? - The Greats - I guess Amma didn't need The Greats in the BC movie series because Lena saved the world by casting that spell on Ethan so he would forget her. How in the world are the filmmakers going to introduce The Greats later on when they play important roles in helping Amma, Ethan & Lena in the other stories? - The Sisters - Ethan's Great-Aunts were nowhere to be found in the Beautiful Creatures movie. If the producers intend to use them to finish off the BC movie series, they are going to have a heck of a time introducing them (and the Greats, and the fact that Boo and the cat have magical seeing abilities, and...) MAJOR Plot changes: - Guardian Angels - The "Guardian Angels" in the book were eliminated. Although I don't think this was a HUGE deal, it was disappointing that the "Guardian Angels" were eliminated from the movie version. In the book, I felt it really developed the characters of the girls (Emily, Savannah, etc), and emphasized the fact that Lena was basically being persecuted for no reason other than being from out of town and different. The "club" also played a part in the end of the book where Link wore a ripped up Guardian Angels shirt at Lena's Surprise party (more on that later...) because it offered up a bit of irony they they were all at Lena's birthday party when they campaigned against her just days before. In the movie version, the only "character development" that the girls got were lines that started with "My mama said....". Cliche'. - Winter Dance / Ridley's return - The Winter Dance in the book served a purpose, in my opinion, because Lena wanted so badly to just be normal and do normal teenage things like go to the high school dance. The dance also developed the characters of the mean high school girls and reintroduced Ridley and showed the book's audience what she was capable of. In the book, the incident at the Winter Dance is what made them have that "hearing" about getting Lena expelled from school and not just the window breaking. The winter dance and everything that happened there was completely eliminated from the film. - Breaking the Curse / Spell on Ethan- In the movie, Lena finds a cure to the curse that she shares with Amma, but doesn't tell Ethan. How anti-climatic. In the novel, there is not a way to break the curse. This was a pretty significant shift from the book. In the movie, She also decided to put a spell on Ethan so that he forgets they ever loved each other because it would save him from being hurt and from being brought further into their world. I was actually pretty shocked that the authors agreed to let them shift so significantly because nothing NEAR this happened in the book. - The Book of Moons - The Book of Moons is really significant in the book series -- all the way to the very end of the last novel. In the movie however, it's simply used as a Caster encyclopedia where she finds a cure to the curse. Yawn. - Lena's Birthday Party / The Ending - The book had such a completely different ending than the ending in the movie. The book involved an elaborate plan including a surprise birthday party that was Ridley's idea to separate Lena and Ethan. That didn't happen in the movie. The ending was extremely different than the novel. In the movie, Ethan is separated from Lena because he just doesn't remember them ever being together and Macon uses Larkin's illusion powers to make himself look like Ethan so that he can thwart Sarafine's plans. After the anti-climatic scene where Lena realizes it is actually her uncle that is dead, Sarafine/Mrs. Lincoln has this weird out of body experience and Lena looks pretty evil. The book was much better at creating tension and suspense during this scene, so this scene was such a let-down. The movie scene was basically just a gun-shot and Uncle Macon telling Lena to "Claim Yourself". Before the credits roll, there is a message that tells the audience 6 months had passed, and there is a scene in the library where Ethan comes to let Amma know he is going to NY with Link to look at colleges. Ethan briefly talks to Lena making casual chit-chat and leaves. He drives off with Link and as he is about to leave Gaitlin, he stops and screams her name like he suddenly remembers everything. Link also doesn't seem phased at all that 6 months ago he actually shot Lena's uncle. (Explain that one to me!?!) I need to point out that my review of the movie is not based on how it deviated from the book (which was definitely a bummer), but to point out how the movie lacked a lot of key elements to make it a good stand-alone story. The plot was rushed and sloppy, the characters were one-dimensional at best, and it was basically a giant small Southern town cliche with some spells sprinkled in for good measure. Had all the right elements been in place, I would have enjoyed the movie even if differed from the book. In the end, the filmmakers took all the magic and mystery out of the novel. They spoon-fed the audience the very basic elements of the story, and didn't allow the audience to experience what could have been a really great, magical journey. The movie offered no suspense or conflict at all. I would highly recommend reading the book, however, I would also recommend skipping the movie because it was such a major disappointment.