The latest in our trend of young adult novels adapted for the big screen, “Beautiful Creatures” walks the line between ridiculously campy Gothic South pulp and emotionally intuitive teen romance. The first in a series of four “Caster Chronicles” novels by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and tweaked for Hollywood purposes by Richard LaGravenese, who both wrote and directed the film, “Beautiful Creatures” benefits from a strong cast and LaGravenese’s streamlining of the story. There are memories of the Civil War and an important locket and hints about destiny and purpose and, oh right, a big showdown coming between humans and magical Casters (who reject the term “witch”), but LaGravenese does his best to keep things moving. If “Twilight” was solely about Bella’s and Edward’s Big Important Love, then “Beautiful Creatures” does as much as possible to nod to history, literature, and the culture of the American South to bring more to the table. For the most part, it works.
“Beautiful Creatures” is mostly told from the viewpoint of high school student Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich, of “Somewhere”), who resents his small town life in rural Gatlin, South Carolina, and can’t wait to get out. He dreams of New York City and, more abstractly, of the Civil War, with images of a dark-haired woman that he can’t get out of his mind. And, lo and behold, on the first day of the new school year, in walks Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), the literal girl of his dreams. Gossipy, judgmental high school students joke that her family are Satanists, but in this town, anything can get you branded as a weirdo—Ethan’s interest in books like “Tropic of Cancer” and “Slaughterhouse-Five” doesn’t go over too well with the locals, either.
So Ethan and Lena are at first drawn together by their marginal status, but there’s something very visceral and intense happening between them; soon they can’t keep away from each other, talking about literature and history and mythology and life and love, and doing a fair bit of kissing in between. The only quibble is, of course, that Lena is nearing her 16th birthday, and as a Caster, that coming-of-age means she’ll be claimed either for the Light or Dark forces. Which, you know, is kind of a big life decision.
Uncle Macon (Jeremy Irons), who lives with Lena in the tremendously beautiful family manor Ravenwood, warns her that this affair with Ethan may be trouble and hopes she’ll go down the path of Light, unlike vampy cousin Ridley (Emma Rossum), who can bend practically any man to her will. In contrast is Lena’s incorporeal mother Sarafine (Emma Thompson, of “Brave,” “Men in Black 3,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” and “Nanny McPhee Returns”), who plots to use Lena’s powers in a war against the humans, establishing a new world order. And on the human side, there’s nanny/librarian Amma (Viola Davis, of “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “The Help,” “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” and “Knight and Day”), a Seer who probably cares more about Ethan than anyone else, on top of knowing basically everything about Gatlin history.
Admittedly, there is a lot going on in “Beautiful Creatures”—visions, voodoo, ghosts, religious tensions, etc.—and not all of it works. Thompson is fantastic as the out-of-control Sarafine, but she sometimes veers into caricature territory; Irons is more sympathetic as the outcast-by-choice Macon, but it’s weird how inconsistent all these British actors’ Southern accents are. Nevertheless, Rossum is a live wire, a fantastically unpredictable character, and Ehrenreich and Englert are believable and likeable as teens falling ever more in love with each other. “Beautiful Creatures” may be overstuffed with plotting, but you certainly can’t fault the performances.
Add to that mix fantastic costumes from designer Jeffrey Kurland and beautiful visuals from cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, and “Beautiful Creatures” becomes a thoroughly engaging visual spectacle. It has its faults, to be sure. But in the wake of “Twilight,” this movie’s self-awareness, strong female characters, and appealing foray into the supernatural are very welcome indeed.
