Beasty

Movie: Beasty

Genre: romantic fantasy

Synopsis: Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) is handsome, rich and the Alpha male of his prestigious private school in Manhattan.  He is running for a student office on the premise that he will do nothing  . . . but is rich and handsome.  He is intrigued by a very earnest student, Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), who seems to be immune to his charms.  Kyle manages to really anger Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen).  Kendra is a witch and puts a curse on Kyle.  He is transformed into a bald, hard-to-look-at person covered with tattoos and strange lines and deformities.  To break the curse, he has one year to find someone that will tell him she loves him.  Kyle’s father (Peter Krause) moves Kyle and the housekeeper, Zola (Lisa Gay Hamilton) to a remote apartment where he will live in seclusion.  His father, even shallower than Kyle, chooses to keep living in the city.  Kyle even get’s his own tutor, Will (Neil Patrick Harris).  Will is blind, but manages to be a great dart thrower.

Kyle becomes obsessed with Lindy.  After witnessing a murder, Lindy winds moving into Kyle’s apartment to until the killer is caught.  The  movie follows the development of the relationship between Kyle and Lindy  . . . and the maturing of Kyle and his view of the world.

My two cents: This movie had a lot that I liked: Vanessa Hudgens and the awkward building of a romance between Kyle and Lindy.  The two that I thought stole the film were Lisa Gay Hamilton and Neil Patrick Harris.  Her character was such an inherently good and decent person that it made me smile whenever she was in a scene.  And the tutor was just plain funny.  The movie had a lot that I did not go for: Kyle was just a bit too openly shallow in the beginning of the movie, the witch was just a little too unbelievable, the acceptance of Kyle’s “condition” by everyone was just a bit too easy.

Bottom line: nothing to go out of your way to see.

[55]