Beautiful Creatures (2013)

Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

Director:

Richard LaGravenese

Writers:

Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Kami Garcia (based on the novel "Beautiful Creatures" by),

Stars:

Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Viola Davis

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alden Ehrenreich	...	Ethan Wate
Alice Englert	...	Lena Duchannes
Jeremy Irons	...	Macon Ravenwood
Viola Davis	...	Amma
Emmy Rossum	...	Ridley Duchannes
Thomas Mann	...	Link
Emma Thompson	...	Mrs. Lincoln / Sarafine
Eileen Atkins	...	Gramma
Margo Martindale	...	Aunt Del
Zoey Deutch	...	Emily Asher
Tiffany Boone	...	Savannah Snow
Rachel Brosnahan	...	Genevieve Duchannes
Kyle Gallner	...	Larkin Ravenwood
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Mr. Lee
Robin Skye	...	Mrs. Hester

Storyline

Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

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Plot Keywords:

witch | singing in a car | south carolina | accidental killing | reference to charles bukowski | 

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Taglines:

Dark secrets will come to light

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, scary images and some sexual material

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 February 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hermosas criaturas

Filming Locations:

Covington, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$7,582,595 (USA) (15 February 2013)

Gross:

$19,445,217 (USA) (5 April 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alcon Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The poetry on the walls and ceiling of Lena's room are sourced from four poets: William Blake, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Rumi.

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Goofs

Gatlin is a fictional town, but the Battle of Honey Hill was a real Civil War battle in South Carolina. The film gives the wrong date for it: December 21, 1864. It actually took place November 30, 1864.

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Quotes

Ethan Wate: My mom always said that people in Gatlin were either too stupid to leave or to stuck to move.

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.77 (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Subterranean Homesick Blues"
Written and Performed by Bob Dylan
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

If you're a fan of the book, don't watch

This is the worst book-to-movie adaptation I have ever seen. And I'm not one of those people who generally gets super frustrated with movie versions because "it's not how I imagined it". But this was just awful. It is one thing to cut scenes for time - that's understandable. It is entirely different to completely change everything - the characters, the story-line, the ending. So many missing details (including ones necessary to the plot) and so many...strange...changes. It seriously was like the screenplay writer asked someone to quickly summarize the book for him, and afterward, he went to write it and just BSed any plot holes he was missing from not actually reading it.

Positive comments: Ugh....not many. The acting wasn't terrible. Jeremy Irons does a great Macon and Emmy Rosum was perfect as Ridley. I wasn't fond of the guy who played Ethan and his accent (which he isn't supposed to have anyway) was pretty terrible. But he wasn't bad. There's only so much an actor can do with a bad script, so I feel like they did their best.

I can't speak for those who haven't read the book, though since this left out all the good parts of the actual story, I can't imagine it would make much sense to someone unfamiliar with it. But if you have read the book and you liked the book and you can't wait to see your favorite parts played out, don't watch this movie. You will be disappointed and so frustrated that you feel the need to write reviews on IMDb to warn people.