A modern-day take on the "Beauty and the Beast" tale where a New York teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love.
A tween-baiting update that sullies the elegant fairytale with privileged brats in penthouses. Beastly is a crass, spirit-sapping bore.
It has all the dramatic heft of a teen magazine photo story and some of the plot twists will send your head into a 360 degree spin.
Another week, another insipid fairytale revamp with dodgy sexual politics.
With a nonsensical, often unintentionally hilarious plot and wooden dialogue, Beastly goes places where few movies have gone before. Ignore it.
As a modern take on Beauty and the Beast, the skin-deep content is admirable enough, but its vapid teen stylings, sketchy motivations, feeble acting and too-hip soundtrack render it ludicrous.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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