This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I want to believe turning Alex Flinn's novel, a modern take on the classic love-over-looks tale "Beauty and the Beast," into a superficial and image-conscious mess was done as ironic commentary.
But I can't give any credit to a movie whose idea of "ugly" is putting Mary-Kate Olsen in bohemian Goth outfits.
Olsen's Kendra is the witch who casts a spell on vain Manhattan high-school stud Kyle (Alex Pettyfer, from "I Am Number Four"), turning him into a hideous tattoo-heavy freak, and giving him one year to break the spell by finding someone to love him as he is. The leading candidate for spell-breaker is Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), a good-hearted classmate whom Kyle shelters when her drug-addict dad (Roc LaFortune) makes some enemies.
Writer-director Daniel Barnz, who successfully updated a classic with "Phoebe in Wonderland," polishes his fake New York setting to a shine, but he's stuck with leads who are pretty but free of personality.
The movie's one saving grace is Neil Patrick Harris, delightfully deadpan as Kyle's blind tutor. HH
Beastly
Opens today at theaters everywhere; rated PG-13 for language including crude comments, brief violence and some thematic material; 87 minutes.