A curse transforms a handsome and arrogant young man into everything he detests in this contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Wealthy Kyle Kingson has everything a teenager could want in life, but he still gets off on humiliating the weaker and less attractive. When Kyle invites his misfit classmate Kendra to an environmental rally at their school, she questions his motivations but reluctantly accepts. Later, Kyle blows Kendra off, prompting the spurned goth girl to cast a dark spell on the swaggering egotist.
There are flashes of genuine wit and charm that, while they cannot support the rest, hint at what was intended and not realized.
– Linda Holmes,
NPR,
4 Mar 2011
rotten:
For a fable about a magical curse, "Beastly" is strangely earthbound. And once it starts, it just seems to go on sappily ever after.
– Stephen Whitty,
Newark Star-Ledger,
4 Mar 2011
rotten:
Stunningly bad.
– Adam Markovitz,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Mar 2011
fresh:
Beneath it all, however, is a movie with a good heart.
– Rafer Guzman,
Newsday,
25 Mar 2011
rotten:
In every aspect, from story to tone to characterization to visual aesthetic, it's laughably perfunctory, as though everyone involved were too embarrassed to give it more than a half-ironic token effort.