Let’s be frank: Beastly is intended for teen/tween girls. Full of eye-candy, chic clothes and cool music, it’s a teen Beauty and the Beast set in the modern-day New York City that achieves messy, if moderate, success.
This fantasy-fueled romance centers on Kyle (played by beefcake-with-a-heart-of-gold Alex Pettyfer), a spoiled and beautiful rich kid whose effectively the king of his high school. But when he mocks those not-so-gifted in the looks department and declares they, “Embrace the Suck,” he is made to pay for his vanity by a “Frankenskank” teen, played by a smirking Mary-Kate Olsen ever-attired to make fashion sites gawk.
She curses him, dropping him down the ugly tree where he hits every branch, leaving him tattooed with open sores, piercings and scars, then eerily intones that if he cannot find someone to say ‘I love you’ before his tattoos bloom white roses, he will be beastly forever. No doctor can help him, so his shallow father hides him where no one will find him – Brooklyn. Here, with the help of his Caribbean-American maid (Lisa Gay Hamilton) and his blind but fashion-conscious tutor (Neil Patrick Harris), he begins to discover who he is beneath his skin, and falls for a sweet outer-boroughs girl played by the impeccably-adorable High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens.
Admittedly, the film never quite achieves the fantasy tone it requires to make the “magic” scenes work. But this isn’t a movie about plot or tone – it’s a love story to be gushed over. If you, like the film’s mutilated hero, can ’embrace the suck’ and take it for what it is, Beastly proves a fun (and at times clever) variation on a classic tale. Pettyfer is moving as the overwrought teen, and, even with a hatchet face, has a body the camera happily eyes with earnest. Hudgens glows as the smart and charming love interest. And scene-stealer Neil Patrick Harris pops up as the cheeky mentor, adding flare and humor to the proceedings. Yes, the drama is unquestionably painted with a broad brush, but there’s something sweet and appealing underneath this movie’s rough exterior.
Beastly opens March 4, 2011.
