Beastly Blu-ray delivers great video and solid audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
Kyle Kingson has it all - looks, intelligence, wealth and opportunity - and a wicked cruel streak. Prone to mocking and humiliating "aggressively unattractive" classmates, he zeroes in on Goth classmate Kendra, inviting her to the school's extravagant environmental bash. Kendra accepts, and, true to form, Kyle blows her off in a particularly savage fashion. She retaliates by casting a spell that physically transforms him into everything he despises. Enraged by his horrible and unrecognizable appearance, he learns that the only solution to the curse is to find someone that will love him as he is - a task that might be impossible.
Beastly delivers exactly as promised, re-telling a "tale as old as time" about the true meaning of love. While that's a plus -- the theme is a
good one and always timely -- that also happens to
be its greatest
weakness. Beastly is just too generic, even if it's been spruced up to flashy 2011 standards. The film and the story it tells both mean well --
there's no denying that -- and the execution is fair, but there's just something missing that takes
away from the admirable principles the film espouses, namely a sense of individuality. Though the film features a couple of "hot young stars" and
succinctly tells the story it sets out to tell, the film feels somewhat empty in the end, even considering all of the standard emotions and expected
developments
that are sure to pull on the heartstrings, but not necessarily because the characters, their plights, or their actions warrant such an emotional
response. The emotions stem more from the principal of the
matter, the enjoyment one can derive from true love taking form despite outward appearances, but the film leaves no lasting impression beyond its
goodhearted
façade.
Cue Celine Dion.
Stuck up, self-centered, ultra-vain high schooler Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) has used his good looks to ascend to the top of the heap at the cutting edge
Buckston High School where he wins class elections based on his looks and his looks alone. The son of a famous and well-groomed TV reporter, Kyle
shuns
anything and everything ugly, though he fails to recognize that he himself is ugliest of all -- on the inside. He regularly ridicules outcast student
Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) who one day curses Kyle with a shaved head and a badly scarred and heavily tattooed face. She tells him that curse may
only be lifted if he
can find true love by springtime. Kyle hides his disfigurement and loses both his hope and his lifestyle. When Kyle -- now going by the anonymous
name Hunter -- happens to save fellow student
Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) from a mugging, he invites her to his secluded hideaway home to stay safe from promised criminal retaliation. She
accepts and slowly
becomes one of three people -- including the blind teacher Will (Neil Patrick Harris) and the Jamaican housekeeper Zola (Lisa Gay Hamilton) -- who
come to see that there's more to Kyle than unsightly scars and tattoos, but will it be enough to lift the curse that could either make or break Kyle's
life?
Beastly, for all its good intentions, ultimately feels hollow. It's not without purpose nor is it absent a good message, but it's also so
unoriginal, utterly predictable, and frankly unnecessary that most will be hard-pressed to find any real purpose in it. Its message has been done and
done and done some more. That doesn't negate its importance, but it does lessen its resonance. What the film does do well -- despite a sense that
the flashy and "cool" façade seems to in some way lessen the story's overall impact because, well, it has to be superficially slick in addition
to emotionally substantive to pull in audiences -- is to refuse to become wholly bogged down in its setting. The contemporary circuit-driven,
instant-message, always-on 21st century landscape factors into the film but never does the slick and
modern overwhelm the core values of true love and vision beyond the superficial and artificial, though they certainly co-exist to a greater degree
than they probably should.
Were the film all about the
artificialness and impersonality of the Facebook/cell phone generation, it would have lost all meaning. That's not the case, but still, the movie just
can't escape
how weighted down it feels by slogging through the motions without really taking any chances, only upping the stakes through its snazzy
contemporary setting. It's a tightrope the film doesn't always walk very well; the film stays true to and respects its themes, but it just can't escape
the need for some jazzed up artificiality to help sell it beyond its core principles.
Director Daniel Barnz doesn't do much on the other side of the camera to make the movie better, either. He uses shadow to the film's benefit early
on as Kyle remains ashamed and afraid of his disfigurement, still incapable of accepting his fate and learning to live as he is and project from within
rather than exist strictly from a physical sense. The metaphor is obvious but cinematically effective, but Barnz doesn't do much more to visually
enhance the story. He doesn't have to, either, as the basics of the story prove historically strong enough to allow the film to stand on its own, even
if in
Beastly the basics are pretty much the only thing carrying the movie to respectability. Also holding the movie back is an overwhelming
sense of weirdness. The "magical" plot device feels like just that, present only to carry the story while it's not explained all that well. Indeed, the
Kendra character remains more a mystery throughout, her role integral to the entire film but always competing with a "wow, OK, she looks
straaaaange" kind of
sensation that dominates every scene in which she appears, which in a roundabout way reinforces the film's themes as she seems to silently
chastise every audience member who dwells on her outward appearance. The other
primary characters aren't necessarily developed all that
well, and the corresponding performances are helped more by the fundamental emotions the story engenders than they are the actor's own
capabilities. All said,
Beastly isn't a terrible movie. It falls in some middle ground purgatory where fans of fairy tales retold will probably enjoy it well enough, but
this is certainly no Beauty and the Beast.
Sony presents Beastly on Blu-ray with a strong, but not quite perfect, 1080p transfer. The image plays with a slight warm tinge to it, seeming
to sometimes even gravitate towards a light but nevertheless discernible brown shading. Otherwise, colors are pleasantly stable and seemingly accurate
throughout, whether as seen in the extremes of the glossy white high school or the shadows in which Kyle hides, and of course everything in between.
Fine detailing is nicely visible, but the image never achieves that breathtaking level of textural perfection. Facial and clothing textures are fair, as are
building
façades, natural greenery, and various odds and ends around the frame, but where the image truly shines is in its ability to bring out even the faintest of
details
in the intricate "beastly" makeup and prosthetics. There are no technical problems of note, but several minor bouts of softness drag the overall
presentation down a notch in a few shots. A light layer of natural grain rounds a handsome, sturdy, but not quite perfect transfer into form.
Beastly doesn't exactly roar onto Blu-ray (that would have been too easy) but it doesn't exactly whimper, either. Sony's DTS-HD MA 5.1
lossless soundtrack drags its heels early on, failing to really get into the swing of things in the first act or so. Shaky dialogue, cramped and stifled
applause, a loose low end, and a generally muddled tone give listeners the sense that the track is likely to sputter and stammer along with little life,
accuracy, or realism. Fortunately, the stiffness and various bugaboos seem to dissipate or disappear as the film wears on. Dialogue tightens up nicely,
bass becomes more certain and self-assured, and music enjoys a more airy and accurate posture. The surround channels are lightly but mostly
effectively utilized throughout in support of various effects of differing levels of intensity, but the back channels never overpower the presentation.
Mostly, Beastly is a talk-heavy Drama with little going for it sonically; Sony's track could be better, but it's a fair presentation of what is a mostly
inconsequential sort of soundtrack.
Beastly makes its Blu-ray debut with a few scattered extras coming along for the ride.
Alternate Ending (1080p, 10:13).
Deleted Scenes (1080p, 4:47): Hunter Emerges Into the City, Hunter Climbs a Crane, and Climbing Into the Zoo.
A Classic Tale Retold: The Story of Beastly (1080p, 10:09): Cast and crew -- including Novelist Alex Flinn -- discuss bringing the
classic Beauty and the Beast tale into the 21st century, the importance of the story and its themes in contemporary society, and the casting
process.
Creating the Perfect Beast (1080p, 5:07): A focused look at the evolution and implementation of the Beast makeup and prosthetics.
Music Video (1080p, 3:04): "Be Mine" by Kristina and the Dolls.
Beastly takes an old idea, sets it in modern times, and more or less leaves it at that. The script is
flat and the emotions are necessarily predictable, but that doesn't stop the movie from pulling on the old heartstrings a few times. The movie feels
superfluous; it's well made, the acting is decent enough, and the story holds true, but
this one is far
from being anything more than a competent, watchable, and forgettable time killer that won't resonate simply because there's nothing new to keep it
alive as anything more than a footnote in the annals of "true beauty lies within" type of tales. Sony's Blu-ray release of Beastly delivers an
above-average
technical presentation but skimps on extras. Worth a rental.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced the Blu-ray release of Beastly. Director Daniel Barnz's modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" stars Alex Pettyfer as a cursed socialite who must earn the affections of a young woman played by Vanessa Hudgens. ...
