Beautiful Creatures: Book to Movie Review
It’s rare, no, let’s be honest, it’s UNHEARD of, for a movie to do a book justice, let alone out-do it. Yet, somehow, Beautiful Creatures has managed to do that.I was excited to read the book because it had every element needed to be amazing. Like reading a recipe full of ingredients you love: Cheese? Yes, please. Pasta? Oh yeah. Meat? Now we’re talking. How can you go wrong with a witch tale told in the south with dark witches running amok, boys with country accents and saying “ma’am” all the time, and the South’s very convincing group of Mean Girls? Real simple: You forget to add seasoning.Now, I watch Food Network for a few hours a day – it’s an obsession of mine. And the nail in any dish’s coffin is: It needed some salt. That’s what Beautiful Creatures needed – a healthy pinch of salt. It was too sweet and I was looking for some savory. Hell, I was looking for some spice. These are southern witches, people. They should’ve knocked me on my ass. Unfortunately, they knocked me out. As in asleep. Within a few pages. Not good.
It deviated quite a bit from the book, but that’s what I liked about it. The pace was better than in the book, the characters more vivid and the storyline more interesting. The book was good enough on its own, nothing I’d recommend, but nothing I’d discourage. Though with this thoroughly satisfying film adaptation of it, I shall be picking up the sequel. And hoping for another movie.
So is this the next Harry Potter? Oh no, not by a very, very, very long shot. It’s not even the next Twilight (*cough*Thank God*cough*). But it is most definitely worth the two hours I spent watching it. And the next two hours I will spend when I watch it again. I give it 3.5 quills out of 5.