This was originally posted by me at blackanddarknight.wordpress.com (no longer available) on August 8, 2011.

I hardly ever see movies when they are new in the theater.  Exceptions to this are any/all Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies – the only one I didn’t see in the theater was Fellowship of the Ring, and I WILL be at the theater opening night (possibly in a costume) for both parts of The Hobbit.  So, when I do movie reviews, it will be closer to the time when they come out on DVD rather than when they come out in the theater.

So, consequently, I’m just now reviewing Beastly.

I don’t know of a girl that doesn’t love the story of Beauty and the Beast.  Beastly is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I will be completely honest and say I have not read the book.  That is only because I was not aware it was a book until after I watched the movie.

There are mixed reviews on Amazon.com.  I’m full of mixed reviews on it myself.

For the most part, I thought it was brilliant.  But that is probably because of the original story behind the idea.  I don’t really care much for the constant high school settings in movies, but I deal with it because that’s who watches movies a lot.

This is why I consider Lord of the Rings is a real movie – no high school drama at all!

The things I loved about the movie were:

The ending.  With the father.

It was clean.  Unless I really didn’t notice something – but for the most part, it was nice to watch a movie without having to keep an eye out for what was going to come off or what someone was going to say.

The blind tutor.  He was just awesome.

Things I hated about the movie were:

Why on earth does Lindy like Kyle before the ‘beastly’ experience?  It’s made obvious in the movie that although she can’t stand his behavior, she has a crush on him.  WHY?  Anyone who has read the book, is it the same way?

The super-fancy high-tech high school.  Do those even exist?  Not in my world . . . but of course, I’m currently living in the world that is on water restrictions (not mandatory yet that I know of, at least, just the voluntary stage), because we haven’t had a good soaking rain in over a month.  We’ve also had a month straight of triple-digit temperatures.

Why doesn’t someone make a Beauty and the Beast story that takes place in a believable world?

Oh, I’m a writer.  I could do that, huh?

There were certain elements in the movie that I thought were brilliant, and did make the story more realistic – Lindy’s father is a drug addict, and him placing her in danger (although inadvertently), is why she goes to live with the beast/Kyle.

As much as that part is necessary to the story of Beauty and the Beast, I found it completely unrealistic the way it was portrayed.  Either Lindy’s father should have been so much of a druggie that he wouldn’t have cared what was going on with Lindy, or he should have not been a druggie at all.  It would have worked much better if he was an alcoholic who had sober moments when he did care about his daughter.  I had a hard time equating the druggie who would let his daughter wander into a deal he’s trying to make with the one who is protective of her and doesn’t want her to go live with the beast.  It was inconsistent.

I’m willing to forgive some things that are unrealistic, this is a ‘fairy’ tale after all.  But if it’s going to be planted in a real world, it should get along with the reality of that world.  This one was mediocre in that respect.

I felt the story was brilliant, though, the execution of it just needed a little help.  Which is why I’m going to end up reading the book at some point and probably loving it much more than I do the movie.

Do I recommend it? Yeah.  It’s enjoyable for an afternoon where you need to fold laundry or do some filing.

Is it so amazing that I would force my husband to sit down and watch it with me for date night? Nope.