Beastly

First Twilight ruins vampires, then Red Riding Hood ruins a classic, and now Beastly tries to ruin another great aspect of American literature? What the hell is going on with movies these days? Can anyone come up with his or her own great story without remaking an old movie, book, or poem or dragging on a movie with multiple mediocre sequels? However, we will still give Beastly its fair shot.

Everyone knows this story. Not only was it a Disney movie, but there was a show in the 80’s starring Linda Hamilton (or Sarah Connor). Guy is an asshole, crazy woman turns him ugly, only true love will “cure” guy. It has probably inspired many more movies than you realize because of the basic human nature psychological study. The twist for this is Vanessa Hudgens, Mary-Kate Olsen, and the icing on the cake… NPH himself! (Neil Patrick Harris? Doogie Howser? In case you didn’t know.)

Kevin: NPH + Blind + Tudor = FUNNY

Gina: The banter with NPH was great. It really picked up the movie.

Kevin: It was too bad that everyone kept turning down the lead role. It would have been great to see the dialogue between NPH and Zac Efron, or NPH berating Rob Pattinson. Two hopefuls who said no… No idea why. ::sarcasm::

Gina: It wasn’t that bad.

There were a number of actors that denied the various roles in Beastly. So the lead went to Alex Pettyfer. “Who?” you ask. Oh sorry… I am Number Four. And boy did he branch out and show off his versatility for these roles! In one he was a High School kid who feels degraded because he is different, in the other, he is a High School kid who feels belittled because he is different. Put one with either movie… It works.

Kevin: I still don’t get how he all of a sudden had super hero strength and agility just because a witch gave him scars and moving tattoos.

Gina: He didn’t have super powers; he was just strong. Either way he didn’t add much to the movie.

Kevin: Same with Hudgens. I feel it would have been better for her if Sucker Punch came out first so she would have had something dramatically different from her past work.

Gina: She was a little cardboard, and didn’t really bring anything special.

The surprise of the film was actually Mary-Kate Olsen as the witch / curse giver, yet there wasn’t nearly enough of her. It reminded me of Ben Foster’s role in Alpha Dogs, where one of the most interesting characters is given such minimal screen time. NPH was still the star, though.

Gina: The ending was lame! Everything was forgiven and then they went on vacation? I would have had a few more questions. 5 of 10 stars.

Kevin: It got its happy ending. This type of movie doesn’t need to be drawn out. 5 of 10 stars, but only because of NPH.