Beautiful Creatures

As the great Bard told us, “The course of love never did run smooth” and there is no exception for our newest star-crossed lovers, Lena and Ethan, in the latest offering of the tween fantasy-romance genre to be taken from the printed word to screen: Beautiful Creatures.

Rumours are spreading in the stiflingly small town of Gatlin of mysterious new girl, Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), an alleged relative of the town’s recluse, Ravenwood. With her eccentric ways (i.e. reading actual books) and odd clothing choices, she is quickly marginalised by the cookie-cutter mean girls of Gatlin High. Yet for Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), who can’t wait to move out into the wider world, Lena is a breath of fresh air from the small-town mind-set of his peers.

Ethan befriends Lena and begins to fall for our femme fatale when he discovers her dark secret: She is a Caster, whose nature, on her 16th birthday, will either be “claimed” for either the Light or (more likely) the Dark. Chastity abound, the somewhat damned duo set about finding a way to prevent Lena from turning Dark whilst navigating the twists and turns of young love. Sound vaguely familiar?

Yet don’t be too quick to judge: for although many parallels have been made between the two, perhaps what separates this film from the likes of the Twilight Saga is a refreshing self-awareness which translates into moments of fantastic comedy and heart-wrenching romance. There is wit, warmth and what’s more, actual chemistry to be found in Lena and Ethan: something which many found was lacking in their surly and angsty Twilight counterparts. Fantastic performances from golden oldies Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons also add credibility to the film, making Beautiful Creatures worth catching whether you’re a fan of the genre or not.

Georgia Ellison