What's The Bottom Line special Warmth Wednesday presents Beastly

presents

Beastly (2011)

Starring Alex Pettyfer (I AM NUMBER FOUR and Magic Mike), Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical and Spring Breakers) and Mary-Kate Olsen (Full House and New York Minute)

Introduction

I picked Beastly for Warmth Wednesday simple because of the fact that it's a modern take of the beloved fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast and it makes you want to feel something, not only for the characters but what is happening to the characters. So, let's get emotional and teary for this film BEASTLY.

First Impressions Before Seeing The Film?

I thought it would be a very simple take on Beauty and the Beast, I did some research and saw the trailer. They worked on the visual aspects of capturing the Beast. Because, in fact Alex Pettyfer the first things you see in the trailer he is working out, being cocky, being the macho-man kind of guy. Then, you see Mary-Kate Olsen's character changing him into something he can't see beyond. The caption 'Love is never ugly' and that's true in some factors in today's society people are moving away from the whole point of what is beauty. And, capturing the fact that Love is never ugly no matter of what you look like. But, who helped Alex Pettyfer's character? Well, you can't have Beauty and the Beast, without the fair beauty can we? That's where Vanessa Hudgens character comes in. I won't mention the other characters, but we see two other characters a maid and a tutor. The maid is trying to bring there family home to her, and the tutor is blind, a very funny blind man who takes his disability light hearted, and already I feel we forget about disabilities within the film and what we see as flaws that people suppose to have. With, all this in the trailer. We can see what could happen and what won't happen.

After I Watched The Film?

I have to say that this is the most creative take on Beauty and the Beast, visually it's stunning, there's so many comedy elements the blokes forget it's a romance at times. It's a stunning drama, and the script itself is written amazingly. It's actually teaching the younger generations something that you learn later on in life, that looks and appearances aren't everything. The characters that we witness they have intelligence, stability, hospitality, understanding, curiosity. It's interesting that Alex Pettyfer's character who's called Kyle Kingston, even the name sounds cocky! But, we see this amazing transition of his beauty, his mannerism. And, then when he turns into 'the beast' we see that he is broken as a person. Because, he went through life purely on looks. So, it's like finding yourself as a person which is what Kyle wanted to do I feel, not for starters but wanted to understand where and why this has happened to him. But, this is where the Beauty and the Beast takes in place. Kyle has to fall in love and that person has to feel the same back! It's really a great twist in general with the fairy tale. Plus, as a viewer I felt that when his 'looks' disappeared he filled that with knowledge of different elements that people encounter like poetry, music, sport, soft humour and above all true love, which is what we kind of feel within this film. Mary-Kate Olsen's character is just perfect as the fair witch, we still don't really know much about the witch. In the Disney's film Beauty and the Beast, she first appears very ugly and disgusting and then magically transforms into a beautiful and enchanting good witch. I like the fact, we just see Mary-Kate Olsen's character as a gothic chick, but still has that kind and fair heart, which shows that people with make up, gothic or non-gothic attire that there is a heart under there. A person. We wear clothes that suit to our personalities I believe. 

What Makes This Different To Beauty and the Beast?

I think it has the very basic understanding of the fairy tale, but it also captures it in today's society clearly. Because, when we think of Beauty and the Beast we think of the that time in Beauty and the Beast, it was a simpler and harder time I think. There wasn't technology, and I think that what captures Beastly, it understands the social networking, the likes on Facebook pictures, the likes of statuses Kyle Kingston would get a good 10/20/30 likes easily, he was 'popular' which I think when you have that technology, how society looks at people with models, advertising, marketing all that lot. You can see that Beastly captures what society truly thinks of what Beauty is. And, I think that's one of the key elements of what Beastly is different comparing Beauty and the Beast. Beastly shows us that society judges people on looks and beauty because of how we see models, adverts and media in today's society. But, Beastly is showing us and fighting towards that looks aren't everything, which it isn't. I mean, look at those TV reality shows, looks aren't everything, Big Brother, Only Way is Essex shows us that looks can't be everything. Yeah, be cute as anything and not know anything isn't really an eye opener. I think Beastly, has that balance of you're appearance can be changed by the actions you do.

Facts About This Film?

1. Neil Patrick Harris wore opaque contact lenses so he would actually be sightless when they were filming.
2. Alex Pettyfer shaved his head completely for his role and underwent 5 hours of prosthetics make-up each work day. Pettyfer remained in character (and make-up) off-set during the shoot as an experimental exercise to see how "outsiders" would react when, for instance , he would purchase miscellaneous items in regular stores in the Montréal neighbourhoods.
3. When Kyle is talking to Will while he is playing darts, the veins/scarring on his back spell out 'ugly'.
4. Lindsay Lohan was offered the role of Kendra, but turned it down. Mary-Kate Olsen was eventually cast for the part.
5. Zac Efron was talked about to be cast as Kyle.
6. The producers released a statement that they were seeking a teen actor in the vein of Robert Pattinson for the role of Kyle.
7. The film was originally slated for release in 2010, as advertised by earlier promotional materials. However, it was moved up several months to avoid competing with The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud (2010), a movie starring Zac Efron whom Vanessa Hudgens was dating at the time.
8. When Kyle is transformed into "Hunter", his eyebrows are replaced by Arabic style writing saying "embrace" and "suck" the words in which the witch Kendra played by Mary-Kate Olsen curses him with "embrace the suck".

My Rankings

It's one of the most magical, inspiring and quite true film when looking at realism at how society would judge people like Hunter. So, I actually quite like this drama romance comedy, it had bits of everything in the film which I like. The romance wasn't straight away, it built up beautifully. So, I would give this an 8 out of 10, IMDB users overall given this a 5.5. But, I looked at all the factors of the film, and I did enjoy most of the film but I wouldn't watch it straight away.

So, What's The Bottom Line?

If you like you're romance films and the romance and love to be built up, this is truly a film to watch. If you're not open minded to see Beauty and the Beast in a different light, then I would not watch this. Go in with an open mind, expect nothing of the film, and you will truly love this film and that's the bottom line. 

Here is the trailer:

Here is the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152398/

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