Touted as the next 'Twilight,' and that is concerning.

Can the 'Beautiful Creatures' book succeed in movie form?

1/28/13

If you're a fan of the supernatural romance book Beautiful Creatures, written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, you already know that a major movie based on the novel is set to hit the big screen next month. The buzz surrounding the film is high, with some even saying that Beautiful Creatures could well become the next Twilight. That's a tall order, and not a good one as far as I'm concerned.

I thought the film adaptations of the Twilight books were terrible. Apologies to all the Kristen Stewart/Robert Pattinson/Taylor Lautner fans, but I just didn't think the films did the books justice. And for that matter, the books were just okay to me. I enjoy young adult fiction, but after the first Twilight book, things got pretty hokey.

Beautiful Creatures is a great book, and an excellent series, with deep characters and plenty of action, minus a whole lot of the melodrama that made Twilight seem totally silly. The comparisons between the two are utterly ridiculous. Beautiful Creatures is much, much darker in tone, with the two lead characters constantly uncovering alarming secrets about their pasts in the small town of Gatlin, South Carolina. The characters are real people, with real problems. And yes, more than a few of them have supernatural abilities -- but they don't ever sparkle.

Let's just throw out the Twilight comparison for now, okay? Let's focus solely on Beautiful Creatures. I think it might work well as a film, in part because of the cast. Anytime you cast the likes of Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Viola Davis, you get my attention. I'll reserve judgment on the newcomers, Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich (Lena and Ethan) until I see the film, but they look solid in the Beautiful Creatures trailer.

Beautiful Creatures - Official Trailer [HD]

One thing that really appealed to me about the Beautiful Creatures book series is the setting. It's totally Southern Gothic, all the way. Gatlin is a small town that serves as a perfect backdrop for all sorts of creeptastical activity. I hope the filmmakers managed to capture the Gatlin I think we all saw in our minds as we read the book.

Any fellow YA fans care to weigh in here? Do you believe they'll be able to make a great film out of the Beautiful Creatures novel? Why, or why not?