Beastly by Alex Flinn

Where is this movie? Doesn’t it look awesome? They promised me this movie in July - and then in November. Now it’s December and I haven’t seen any sign of it, have you? So while we’re sitting around waiting for this movie to materialize, how about reading the book - which was also awesome?

I hate people who are really full of themselves; you know, good looking, rich - and unbelievably obnoxious. Which is why I wasn’t too upset when young Kyle’s life falls apart. He’s definitely someone who needs to learn a lesson. And what better way to learn a lesson than to have a “witch” place a curse on you, removing everything you ever thought was important?

Does this story sound familiar? That’s right: Beastly is a modern retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story. Set in Manhattan, Beastly is full of the annoying high school characters we all know and love: the beautiful people, the nerds, and everyone in between. Kyle is, without question, the worst of the beautiful people. Sure, he has money, good looks and an equally beautiful girlfriend - but he doesn’t have any good qualities whatsoever.

One day, he messes with the wrong person, a “witch” who places a curse on Kyle, telling him that he will need to learn to “be as ugly on the outside as on the inside." How will Kyle cope with his new life? How will he get out of this mess? You’ve read the fairytale, you figure it out. Better yet, go find a copy of Beastly.

LAME FACTOR: Yeah, yeah, it’s a fairytale, but it’s not lame. I give Beastly a zero.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR: As you can probably guess, pre-curse Kyle isn’t too well-behaved. Once the curse takes effect, though, there’s not a lot of trouble he can get into.

BRAIN POWER: Nothing too complex here - but you are looking up the words you don’t know, aren’t you?