Beastly (Movie)

Privileged, popular, and proud, high school student Kyle Kingsbury knows he can get away with virtually anything because of his good looks and his father's money.  But Kyle goes too far when he sets out to humiliate a mysterious and unpopular girl at the school dance.  The girl turns out to be a witch who casts a spell on Kyle, turning him into a beast who is now as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. The only way for Kyle to break the curse is to fall in love with someone who will look past his appearance and love him in return.

      This movie is based on the book of the same name by Alex Flinn. The above summary is from the book, but some names were changed for the movie (such as Kyle's last name). Yes, it's a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast (one of my favorite Disney movies), so we all know how it ends. While all the critics' reviews I've read have complained about this, I was really interested in seeing the journey to get there, especially since it involves Alex Pettyfer. I did not read the book prior to seeing this movie.

Reasons I love this movie:

• Neil Patrick Harris- NPH plays Will, Kyle's blind tutor and gets some of the best lines, especially when he's playing darts. All of his interactions with the other characters are great, particularly when he thinks something is too mushy or corny. 
• Kyle's beast form- The makeup effects they did on Alex Pettyfer are awesome. Not very ugly, but definitely unique and interesting. Plus it looked like his left eyebrow said "suck". 
• Kendra- Mary-Kate Olsen managed to make the witch creepy and entertaining in every scene she was in. 
• Romance- I know it's a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but this movie has all the aspects I look for in a sweet romance movie like this. When Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Kyle were falling in love it was great to watch and I couldn't wait to see how everything in their way worked out so they could live happily ever after. When they were talking at parties it was so sweet to see them kind of flirting but still having real conversations about life. 

Huh, what?:

• Lindy's dad- The whole situation that occurs to make Lindy live with Kyle seems so rushed, although it was incredibly sweet the way Kyle wanted to protect her. (I'll try to stop using the word sweet I promise!) I know it wasn't too important why she was there as long as she was, but it still bothered me, especially because her dad comes up later in the story. 
• Lindy's messages- A few times in the movie Lindy's feelings are expressed through instant messages and emails with people in the outside world. The impression I got (and I could be wrong) was that she was planning to escape with another guy, but it was kind of vague and never really acknowledged again. 

Is this the end?:

• I get the impression that Beastly is a stand-alone book, so probably, but you never know if Hollywood will come up with some bone-headed idea to make a sequel. 

4 Robots

This is a great movie and my boyfriend also really enjoyed it (he went under his own will).