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BEASTLY (3/04/11; Fantasy) Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer, Mary-Kate Olsen, Neil Patrick Harris, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Peter Krause SCR/DIR: Daniel Barnz MPAA: PG-13 for language including some crude comments, drug references and brief violence. 1 hour 35 mins BOX: $28,834,009 |
Kyle Kingson (Pettyfer) is a rich good-looking A-hole who enjoys mocking fellow high school students whom he considers “aggressively unattractive.” He makes the mistake of inviting witchy Kendra to the school’s extravagant environmental bash and then mercilessly savaging her.
Obviously this guy never watched Disney’s Beauty and the Beast because it turns out Kendra is a real witch who curses him with tattoos, scars and piercings, causing him to hide away in his rich daddy’s lake house. Of course, it will take real love to break the spell and lessons will be learned. Alas, for everyone who has seen Beauty and the Beast, this will all seem very familiar, down to the magic mirrors that allow him to see everything to his slow marches toward becoming a gentlemen.
It’s odd to see Harris slumming as a blind tutor but then again, he seems to be the only one having any fun. Hudgens is awfully cute and knows how to glance fetchingly but Pettyfer makes a better beast in human form. As an entitled ass, he’s an interesting villain but, in his cursed form, looks like he wandered off the stage at a Marilyn Manson show. (CBS)
— DENNIS WILLIS
