High school student Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) has everything he cares about: looks, money & popularity. He believes that looks are everything, and ugly people don’t really stand a chance about anything, a belief that his less than superficial, famous news anchor dad taught him.

But things stop being perfect for Kyle the moment he pisses off the wrong “loser” – the witch Mary-Kate Olsen). She casts a spell on him that is his ultimate nightmare: she takes away her looks, and makes him look as “good” his soul. So now Kyle simply looks gruesome. His dad tries to fix his appearance, and when he fails, he buys a remote apartment building for Kyle to be away from the public eye. The “promise” is that he will meet Kyle whenever he can. Of course his father misses every scheduled date until Kyle realizes that he doesn’t have anyone, apart from the Jamaican maid (Rebecca Gay Hamilton) whom he previously treated like crap, and the blind tutor (Neil Patrick Harris) his father hires to stay with them.

The good news is, the spell is reversible. Kyle needs to find someone who will love him for who he is, despite his looks, and will say “I Love You” before the year is over, or he will stay ugly forever.

And there is one person Kyle really would love to these words from: the pretty, but not-so-popular  Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) who he had briefly interacted with before the spell.  Because of her father’s drug addiction and the current trouble he gets into, Kyle persuades her dad to let Lindy stay with Kyle.

According to the story his dad feeds her, Kyle’s name is Hunter- and his dad is an old friend of her dad. As Kyle remains determined not to show his face and tries to buy her happiness, she hates the situation more and more. But Kyle learns that she doesn’t care about money, and couldn’t have cared less about how awful he looks.  As he tries more and more to make her happy, and becomes a nicer guy in general, he really falls for her. But will she fall for him in time?

**

A modern twist on The Beauty & the Beast, Beastly takes your typical high school jerk and gives him the lesson of his life after a “supernatural” event. Adapted for the screen (and directed) by Daniel Barnz (from the book Beastly by Alex Flinn), is an enjoyable film. Yes, it is light and cheesy. Yes, there are many things that could have been better. But 4.8 on IMDB? Let’s be fair. Many of the movie’s faults come from the faults of the original story – with all the lessons the beast learns, we still get a guy fall for the pretty girl. But hey, guys like pretty girls so let’s get over that.

It’d have made for a better overall moral lesson if the girl had been plainer, at least along the lines of Elizabeth Bennet (in the story/movie/series of Pride and Prejudice). It would have been better if the producers made Alex Pettyfer take off his shirt less after the spell was cast. But overall, this is a fun movie about a guy who doesn’t just experience being ugly, but he gets to learn to like and respect people regardless of their looks. He learns that looks don’t necessarily grant you love. He learns to care about others. He learns that it is so much more meaningful to build a greenhouse from scratch than go hire a landscape architect to make one for him.

It’s not goose bumps and fireworks. It’s simple good time, better enjoyed when you don’t analyze or expect too much.

It certainly isn’t ghastly, as one reviewer calls the movie. It’s just enjoyable fluff.

Recommended Romance Movies (also with Fantasy Elements)

Just Like Heaven starring Reese Witherspoon & Mark Ruffalo

( the girl goes into a coma, and only one guy can hear and see her)

Forever Young starring Mel Gibson, Jamie Lee Curtis & Elijah Wood

(the guy is frozen so that he won’t live to watch his girlfriend die, but he wakes up 50 years later as opposed to a couple).

Also on Alex Pettyfer:

I’m Number Four starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Diana Agron & Teresa Palmer