It is one Beastly Good Time

By Paige DeNardi

I had some pretty high expectations walking into the theater to see Beastly. Nobody should try to make a Disney classic into something modern unless they’re sure it will be fantastic, especially my favorite Disney movie.

While the movie definitely did not meet my high expectations, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I’d even say Beastly was a sweet, romantic, tearjerker.

The movie takes place in New York City, following the life of Kyle Kingson (Alex Pettyfer). Kyle is a very attractive teenager who believes looks are everything. He treats everyone badly. One day, he invites an awkward, weird girl named Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) to a party, but later stands her up. Kendra turns out to be a witch and puts a spell on Kyle and turns him into a mutated, grotesque human. To break the curse, Kyle must find a girl to love him despite his looks within a year. If Kyle fails, he must remain in this grotesque form for the rest of his life.

Kyle’s dad moves Kyle in a secluded area where no one can find him and hires a blind tutor named Will (Neil Patrick Harris), and the family maid Zola (Lisa Gay Hamilton) to take care of him. Kyle realizes that beauty is not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Kyle tries to use his newly found philosophy on beauty to win over the heart of Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) before the year runs out.

The movie followed the Beauty and the Beast plot very closely and I wished it would have had some more originality to make the movie shine. The movie was also cheesy in some parts but at the end of the movie, I walked out slightly teary-eyed and not regretting my choice of movie at all.