I’ve never loved the original story of Beauty and the Beast and I’ve never been impressed by any of the re-tellings I’ve read. But after first coming across a brief description of Beastly and the increasing buzz surrounding it, I couldn’t ignore it. Though not perfect, this modern version set in New York City and told from the Beast’s point of view gives a new, fun, and refreshing take on the traditional fairy tale with a few key changes that really make it shine.
Kyle Kingsbury is the talk of his upscale private school in Manhattan, and rightly so. He’s good-looking, rich, and funny. But he sees his popularity all too clearly. He’s also arrogant, mean-spirited, and snotty – so much so that he’s happy to humiliate overweight goth-girl Kendra by pretending to like her, asking her to the prom, and ditching her for his real date at the door. As we all could guess, Kyle’s meddled with the wrong high-schooler. The witch quickly arrives on the scene, and as punishment for his cruelty, Kyle is turned into a hairy, beast-like form that only true-love’s kiss can reverse. But there’s a catch: he has only two years to break the curse before it becomes permanent.
As I hinted above, I liked Beastly, especially the second half. Kyle is hard to like, though, in the beginning. In fact, his attitude of entitlement and life philosophy of looks-are-the-only-thing-that-matters were at times almost unbearable and began to grate on my nerves. However once he began to grow a semblance of a heart in his abandonment and seclusion the story really picked up for me. I loved the idea of the blind live-in tutor, the heartless celebrity-newscaster father, and the Latin housekeeper. The time limit also really breathes life into this well-known story and wanted urgency to breaking the curse. In all of this, Kyle’s dramatic transformation in character somehow remains believable. My favorite part: the witch is not what she seems.
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