A Tale of Inner Beauty, Enhanced by Makeup
This is a story that hinges primarily on the work of the makeup artists.
Imagine a high school setting where a girl, reminiscent of a young Lady Gaga and secretly a practicing witch, decides to teach a lesson to her handsome but arrogant classmate. She transforms the school’s golden boy into a tattooed “monster,” explaining that the curse will only break if a beautiful maiden genuinely falls in love with him. The catch? This must happen within a year, or he’ll be stuck with the tattoos forever.
2011 was supposed to be Alex Pettyfer’s breakout year, but the next Robert Pattinson never materialized. The overall absurdity of “Beastly” seemed to be a logical consequence of the box office failure of his other film, “I Am Number Four” (2011).
Pettyfer’s Sacrifices in Vain
Unfortunately, all the sacrifices Alex Pettyfer made for the role seem to have been in vain. His shaved head and the six-hour makeup sessions are completely lost in the overwhelming naiveté that the filmmakers poured into their fairytale. The scars in “Beastly” are more reminiscent of the aftermath of a sudden lobotomy, which might be the only explanation for the strange changes in the protagonist’s personality after his transformation.
Questions Remain
However, even that theory leaves some questions unanswered. For instance, where are the equivalent scars on the smooth-skinned Vanessa Hudgens, who plays the heroine and prances around like a character from the movie “House of Fools” (2002)?