Summary:
Ethan Wate longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena Duchannes. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.Casey's Review:
Going into the movie I was not quite sure what to expect. Not that I was not familiar with the plot line and story, I mean I have read the book on at least 5 different occasions. But like an other book to movie adaption you never quite know what to expect. Especially since no one has a different idea of how it should goes.
Let's start with the acting and characters, the acting was AMAZING and I believe everyone was great. Ethan Wate, man you were AMAZING as well, not just the acting for his character but his witty charm, his accent that I did not think he had, and personality made his character. Though some characters were not like they were in the book(s). Ridley was one of those characters, I know that she could be mean, selfish, and sometimes just down right rude but, there was always a side of her that was good and nice since she fought against her dark side to be partly light. But in the movie she was not like that, she had no light in her. She was actually worse than her dark self in the book because even thought she was dark she was not dark enough to kill someone. No matter what she would not have killed anyone, some one could argue with me because in the book she makes Ethan's Dad almost commit suicide. But that was a distraction, I could never see her killing anyone, I could see her threatening to so she could get what she wants, but she never would do it. I thought that in the movie she dressed more like a siren would dress than the Ridley in the book. Her character in the movie dressed and looked more mature. Next we have good old Link, who I do not even get why he was included really in the film. Besides the purpose of killing "Ethan" in the end which I talk about later on. In the book(s) Link is a very important character and he was always there for Ethan and a big part of the caster world when in Beautiful Darkness and he gets turned into an Incubus, but he originally learns about the caster world toward the end of Beautiful Creatures. But he never finds out about the caster world in the movie, so how will he be an help in Beautiful Darkness and the other books? Finally lets discuss Macon, in the book he is an Incubus, that is why he is the town shut in, since he can not go out in daylight, but in the movie he is just a dark caster. I do not get why they kept him as the town shut in if he could actually go outside, like the book Macon could not. It was interesting that he turned light for Lena but they would not have Ridley fighting to stay somewhat light. Like what they did to Macon character, Sarafine was a natural in the book and in the movie I have no idea what she was. Also how did Lena defeat Sarafine, who the most powerful dark caster, I know she does in one of the upcoming books but still. I want them STOP taking things from one of the other books and putting it in a different book.
Now even some characters that were important to the series where not even included. Like Ethan's Mom was not and I was almost positive she got casted in the movie process. In the movie it talked about her death and such, but one thing that got me was that Amma hinted at saying that Macon and Lila, Ethan's Mom, were in a relationship, which they were but that was not reveled in the series until Beautiful Darkness. But Amma never mentioned or hinted at that Lila was a keeper and she was saying that only seer's were able to be keepers, so I do not know if Lila will be credited as a keeper. I am hoping she will because, it just can not be pulled out of thin air that Ethan is a wayward with out any caster world relations. His Mom was also a huge character with the shadow songs, she would come up with and send them to Ethan and Lena to help them out, but those were not included in the movie. Macon totally took one of my favorite lines that Lila told Lena about how she had your claim herself. I also do not get why they mentioned Ethan's Dad, who was also a partly important character, if they never even showed him. In the beginning Ethan said about his Dad never coming out of his study anymore since his Mom's death but in the series his Dad would come out, rarely though. I was really pissed that the sisters were not included in the movie since in the movie Amma and Macon tell Ethan and Lena about the connections to the people in the visions. But I just loved the sisters because they were hysterical and sometimes made no sense which was sometimes the funny part. If they are going to turn Beautiful Darkness in a movie I have no clue how Ethan are going to get the caster tunnel maps because Liv and him get them from Aunt Prue. Also the whole combining Amma and Marian into one character turned out alright but I would have liked to see more of Amma's own personality and her more motherly side to Ethan.
The Lunae Libri in the movie ran on a different schedule than the Lunae Libri in the book. In the book it only open on Mortal holidays but in the movie you could go anytime you wanted to. I pictured the Lunae Libri to be way bigger than the one in the movie because Ethan always said it looked like it went on forever.
I loved how bits and pieces of the prolog were in the beginning of the movie because the prolog was one of my favorite parts of the book because I could relate to wanted to get out of a small town you have lived in your whole life, and just wanting to get any for the small mindedness of the town. I also thought it was sweet they changed the part where he said his "My mama said there were only two kinds of people in Gatlin, South Carolina. The ones to stupid to leave and the ones to stuck to move." In the book it was his Dad had said that but I always thought is sounded like sometime his Mom would say instead.
In the movie Lena's Birthday is the 21th of December while in the book it is the 11th of February. As well as in the movie they made the war reenactment the same day as Lena's birthday. Anyway, when I saw that date on the locket it occurred to me that that is the day Ethan jumps off the water tower in Beautiful Chaos. But I do not get why they changed her birth date in the first place.
I kind of liked how they combined all the visions of Genevieve and Ethan together in just two separate visions because in the book there is some unnecessary points but it gets right to the point in the movie, which was nice.
One thing that annoyed me was the Lena kept telling Ethan that they could not be together, I mean the stakes were higher in the book because of the whole they shock when they touch and the whole issue that Ethan's heart stopped beating when they made out once. While in the movie none of that happened or anything that really could not have killed Ethan, only to break the curse.
Now lets skip to Lena's claiming, what I really want to know was were the heck the real Ethan was during all that. Since it was Macon disguised as Ethan the whole war reenactment. It was clever that Macon did that but if the real Ethan did not die at all I do not see how they plan on making the last two books, if they are. Mostly because the whole issue in those are that Ethan's soul is split in half from being brought back to life by the book of moons. When Link killed "Ethan" I was shocked as well as pissed off and I still can not see Ridley ever doing that to someone. In the book Lena's stakes for her claiming were way higher because if she chose dark all the light caters would die and vice versa but in the movie only one person she loved would die to break the curse, which is way less than all the people in the book that could have died. Also in the movie it was only the women who had to be claimed, sexist much.
I really want to talk about like the last two minutes of the movie when it goes to 6 months after Lena's claiming. I hated that way of ending, as a reader of the books it did not make sense to me because 6 months later would have been in either Beautiful Darkness or Beautiful Chaos and how does Lena just suddenly have the power to erase memories without a spell, that we know of. First when the 6 months later thing came up and Ethan walked into the library and some girl, I did not know who it was because their back was facing the camera, I automatically thought it was Liv and it was kind of going to be a preview of the next movie, but no. Right at the end it shows us Lena's one yellow eye, I liked how it flashed yellow instead of being solid yellow the entire time, I disliked that the light casters eyes were not flash green thought. I am curious like some other people that have read the books if she really did claim herself during her claiming because she never covered the moon during her claiming and I know that in the she claimed herself in the middle so she possible already could have. As well as we would have know if she did or did not because the shadowing song right at the end of the book says about finding out on her Seventeenth Moon but those were not included in the movie so it is hard to say if she did or not. But I hated that Lena made Ethan forget what happened in the end but then he remembers, which I do not think made sense since she is the most powerful caster according to the movie and her spell or whatever she did should not have worn off. That ending though was kind of how I though Beautiful Redemption was going to end because I thought Ethan was going to rip out Ethan and Genvieve's page as well and it would end with him going back to the first day of school in Beautiful Creatures and he would say something like "This time I will make it right" but no, they decided to kill Amma off! If you think about it the ending of the movie and the book gave about he same amount of information so the movie watchers did not get an advantage over the book readers at the end, because in some movie they give more information out at the end than the books do.
My favorite scenes would have to have been the classroom scene when the windows break, or the dining room scene where Lena's powers are unleashed. But was it just me or was the classroom scene more grander and looked better in the trailers?
Something else about scenes are that some scene were cut from the movie, like the scene were all the students and some parents are outside the school rallying that Lena should not be able to go back to school in Gatlin, that was in the one of the movie trailers but not the film. Also, in different trailers as well, I saw part of Halloween day but that was not included either. One thing that pissed me off was Ethan says about going to the dance, so it got me excited to think they might do that scene, but in the end they do not go.
Lastly, the book , the book has some romantic touched in the story, but since Ethan can die from touching Lena for so long, Lena for so long it is not that much, but the movie has tons more because they do not have that issue, not that I mind.
Overall I thought it was a great movie, it was not exactly like the book but it was an adaptation so not everything can be the same, but it captures the heart of the story. Now that Beautiful Creatures is over and I can not really fangirl about it anymore I will be starting the count down to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie, only 187 days left!
~Casey
Now even some characters that were important to the series where not even included. Like Ethan's Mom was not and I was almost positive she got casted in the movie process. In the movie it talked about her death and such, but one thing that got me was that Amma hinted at saying that Macon and Lila, Ethan's Mom, were in a relationship, which they were but that was not reveled in the series until Beautiful Darkness. But Amma never mentioned or hinted at that Lila was a keeper and she was saying that only seer's were able to be keepers, so I do not know if Lila will be credited as a keeper. I am hoping she will because, it just can not be pulled out of thin air that Ethan is a wayward with out any caster world relations. His Mom was also a huge character with the shadow songs, she would come up with and send them to Ethan and Lena to help them out, but those were not included in the movie. Macon totally took one of my favorite lines that Lila told Lena about how she had your claim herself. I also do not get why they mentioned Ethan's Dad, who was also a partly important character, if they never even showed him. In the beginning Ethan said about his Dad never coming out of his study anymore since his Mom's death but in the series his Dad would come out, rarely though. I was really pissed that the sisters were not included in the movie since in the movie Amma and Macon tell Ethan and Lena about the connections to the people in the visions. But I just loved the sisters because they were hysterical and sometimes made no sense which was sometimes the funny part. If they are going to turn Beautiful Darkness in a movie I have no clue how Ethan are going to get the caster tunnel maps because Liv and him get them from Aunt Prue. Also the whole combining Amma and Marian into one character turned out alright but I would have liked to see more of Amma's own personality and her more motherly side to Ethan.
The Lunae Libri in the movie ran on a different schedule than the Lunae Libri in the book. In the book it only open on Mortal holidays but in the movie you could go anytime you wanted to. I pictured the Lunae Libri to be way bigger than the one in the movie because Ethan always said it looked like it went on forever.
I loved how bits and pieces of the prolog were in the beginning of the movie because the prolog was one of my favorite parts of the book because I could relate to wanted to get out of a small town you have lived in your whole life, and just wanting to get any for the small mindedness of the town. I also thought it was sweet they changed the part where he said his "My mama said there were only two kinds of people in Gatlin, South Carolina. The ones to stupid to leave and the ones to stuck to move." In the book it was his Dad had said that but I always thought is sounded like sometime his Mom would say instead.
In the movie Lena's Birthday is the 21th of December while in the book it is the 11th of February. As well as in the movie they made the war reenactment the same day as Lena's birthday. Anyway, when I saw that date on the locket it occurred to me that that is the day Ethan jumps off the water tower in Beautiful Chaos. But I do not get why they changed her birth date in the first place.
I kind of liked how they combined all the visions of Genevieve and Ethan together in just two separate visions because in the book there is some unnecessary points but it gets right to the point in the movie, which was nice.
One thing that annoyed me was the Lena kept telling Ethan that they could not be together, I mean the stakes were higher in the book because of the whole they shock when they touch and the whole issue that Ethan's heart stopped beating when they made out once. While in the movie none of that happened or anything that really could not have killed Ethan, only to break the curse.
Now lets skip to Lena's claiming, what I really want to know was were the heck the real Ethan was during all that. Since it was Macon disguised as Ethan the whole war reenactment. It was clever that Macon did that but if the real Ethan did not die at all I do not see how they plan on making the last two books, if they are. Mostly because the whole issue in those are that Ethan's soul is split in half from being brought back to life by the book of moons. When Link killed "Ethan" I was shocked as well as pissed off and I still can not see Ridley ever doing that to someone. In the book Lena's stakes for her claiming were way higher because if she chose dark all the light caters would die and vice versa but in the movie only one person she loved would die to break the curse, which is way less than all the people in the book that could have died. Also in the movie it was only the women who had to be claimed, sexist much.
I really want to talk about like the last two minutes of the movie when it goes to 6 months after Lena's claiming. I hated that way of ending, as a reader of the books it did not make sense to me because 6 months later would have been in either Beautiful Darkness or Beautiful Chaos and how does Lena just suddenly have the power to erase memories without a spell, that we know of. First when the 6 months later thing came up and Ethan walked into the library and some girl, I did not know who it was because their back was facing the camera, I automatically thought it was Liv and it was kind of going to be a preview of the next movie, but no. Right at the end it shows us Lena's one yellow eye, I liked how it flashed yellow instead of being solid yellow the entire time, I disliked that the light casters eyes were not flash green thought. I am curious like some other people that have read the books if she really did claim herself during her claiming because she never covered the moon during her claiming and I know that in the she claimed herself in the middle so she possible already could have. As well as we would have know if she did or did not because the shadowing song right at the end of the book says about finding out on her Seventeenth Moon but those were not included in the movie so it is hard to say if she did or not. But I hated that Lena made Ethan forget what happened in the end but then he remembers, which I do not think made sense since she is the most powerful caster according to the movie and her spell or whatever she did should not have worn off. That ending though was kind of how I though Beautiful Redemption was going to end because I thought Ethan was going to rip out Ethan and Genvieve's page as well and it would end with him going back to the first day of school in Beautiful Creatures and he would say something like "This time I will make it right" but no, they decided to kill Amma off! If you think about it the ending of the movie and the book gave about he same amount of information so the movie watchers did not get an advantage over the book readers at the end, because in some movie they give more information out at the end than the books do.
My favorite scenes would have to have been the classroom scene when the windows break, or the dining room scene where Lena's powers are unleashed. But was it just me or was the classroom scene more grander and looked better in the trailers?
Something else about scenes are that some scene were cut from the movie, like the scene were all the students and some parents are outside the school rallying that Lena should not be able to go back to school in Gatlin, that was in the one of the movie trailers but not the film. Also, in different trailers as well, I saw part of Halloween day but that was not included either. One thing that pissed me off was Ethan says about going to the dance, so it got me excited to think they might do that scene, but in the end they do not go.
Lastly, the book , the book has some romantic touched in the story, but since Ethan can die from touching Lena for so long, Lena for so long it is not that much, but the movie has tons more because they do not have that issue, not that I mind.
Overall I thought it was a great movie, it was not exactly like the book but it was an adaptation so not everything can be the same, but it captures the heart of the story. Now that Beautiful Creatures is over and I can not really fangirl about it anymore I will be starting the count down to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie, only 187 days left!
~Casey
Wow, amazing summary, Casey :-) so it wasn't a major disappointment, but it had some flaws? I never really looked into the Beautiful Creatures series, however this seems to be interesting. I can relate when you talk about the transitions from books to movies. I never usually watch a movie based on a book I've read, unless it's Stephen King lol. Usually movies leave out key roles from the book, like Ridley for example. I always feel like a movie from a book is always missing that real excitement and action or emotion you feel in the book, and for some reason they never seem to get it right. Anyway, good job on the summary! :-)
ReplyDelete-Kylee