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"BEASTLY" (2011) (Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens) (PG-13) QUICK TAKE: Drama: A once handsome teen has one year to get a girl to love him for who he is or else a witch's curse, that's disfigured his looks and ruined his popularity, will remain perpetual. PLOT: Kyle Kingson (ALEX PETTYFER) is the most popular, handsome and egotistical student at his private high school in Manhattan, and he lets everyone know it. That's become more evident now that he's running for class president and putting down anyone he deems beneath him -- such as old-school romantic Lindy Taylor (VANESSA HUDGENS) -- or unattractive, which is how he views Kendra (MARY-KATE OLSEN). Unfortunately for him, the latter turns out to be a witch who puts a curse on him. As a result, his face and other skin are horribly disfigured, with boils, raised veins, gashes, a bald top and more replacing his flawless looks and model-worthy hair. The curse is reversible, but only if Kyle can get someone to love him for who he truly is, and how he looks now in this new physical state, all within a year. His famous and rich father, Rob (PETER KRAUSE), from whom Kyle inherited a disdain for ordinary and less attractive people, can't have him around anymore and thus sets him up in his own place where he'll live mostly in seclusion. That is, except for their housekeeper, Zola (LISAGAY HAMILTON), and the blind tutor, Will (NEIL PATRICK HARRIS), hired to educate the teen, both of whom also live in the house. Wearing a hood whenever he goes out, Kyle realizes he's drawn to Lindy, but never makes his presence known until he saves her and drug-addict father from a drug dealer. With Lindy now needing a place to stay for her protection, Kyle arranges for that to be at his place, but he does so under a different name and initially doesn't let her see him. And she's unhappy with this turn of events, although she initially warms to her new host that she doesn't realize is really her former classmate. With time running out, Kyle does want he can to make Lindy fall for and hopefully state that she loves him, lest the curse remain in place forever. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? As it's targeted to tween and younger teenage girls, I imagine many of them will be interested in it. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For language including crude comments, brief violence and some thematic material. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: ALEX PETTYFER plays a handsome, rich and egotistical high school student at a private school in Manhattan who's followed his famous father's mantra of looks being the most important thing in life. Running for class president, he plays up that and his elitist lifestyle while putting down others, especially if he deems them less attractive or just weird, which is how he feels about Kendra. His mindset is challenged when the witch puts a curse on him that leaves his skin horribly disfigured and his father moves him into another place under the care of Zola and Will. Despite having to be cloaked most of the time out in public, he finds himself drawn to former classmate Lindy, and after saving her life from a drug dealer, he has her move into his place in the guise of safety (and him in the guise of someone else to keep her from possibly recognizing him). He then sets out to win her over, first just to break Kendra's one-year curse, but then because he starts liking and caring for her, just like he changes his attitude about and behavior toward Will and Zola. He uses some profanity. VANESSA HUDGENS plays his former classmate, an old-school romantic who finds herself somewhat drawn to him in his original state despite his egotistical behavior. When he, posing as someone else, saves her life and arranges for her to live in his place, she's initially resentful, but soon warms up to him, not realizing it's her former classmate. She uses some profanity. MARY-KATE OLSEN plays a classmate of theirs who endures the ridicule of others. That's especially true of Kyle so she puts a witch's curse on him that disfigures his looks and promises to keep him that way if he can't find someone to love him for who he is in the next year. NEIL PATRICK HARRIS plays Kyle's blind and witty tutor hired by his father to teach Kyle while he's in seclusion. He uses some profanity. LISAGAY HAMILTON plays Kyle's father's housekeeper who ends up taking care of the teen after his father sends him off to live elsewhere. A mother of three kids she hasn't seen in years (because they can't get green cards), she's kind to Kyle despite his treatment of her. PETER KRAUSE plays Kyle's rich and equally egotistical and shallow father who sends his now-disfigured son elsewhere to live following Kendra's curse. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a quick look at the content found in this drama that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 3 "s" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Some non-explicit, but sexually related dialogue is present, there's some brief kissing, and a buff teen is occasionally seen shirtless, while scantily clad models are briefly seen in some advertising. Violence consists of an off-screen shooting, while some related physical contact is seen. Due to a witch's curse, a handsome teen's face is suddenly disfigured (by magic and not violence), with deep gashes, protruding veins and such visible for much of the film. Bad attitudes are present, as are various thematic issues along with tense family material. While no drug use is seen, a father is noted as being an addict and he has a run-in with some dealers, while there's a purposeful text-based lie about a teen being in rehab (to explain his absence from school). Imitative behavior is also present. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that from flashing police lights. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's camera movement following Kendra's curse on Kyle, with double-vision and other disorienting type photography, some spin-around views and such. There's also some other camera movement from time to time in the film. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE We see a text lie explaining Kyle's absence from school being that he's in rehab. Lindy goes out onto the street looking for her father, and it's then that we learn he's a drug addict. The two then have a violent run-in with some drug dealers. Lindy gets a call that her father has overdosed and she races home to be with him. BLOOD/GROSS STUFF Following Kendra's curse, Kyle's face and other skin are disfigured, with some deep gashes, raised veins (or similar markings), boils and other such features. There are many views of him this way throughout the film. Tyler and Lindy pretend to translate for characters seen on Korean TV, with Tyler making one joking reference about eating something "so that you can hurl chunks." As a joke about Tyler's behavior, Will pretends he's going to vomit. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Kyle, a handsome teen, is egotistical and views himself as superior to others with average or unattractive looks. Kyle refers to Kendra as "ball-busting" and a "slut." We see that Kendra has defaced Kyle's class president campaign posters. Kyle states that good looks are all that matters, and anyone who says differently is dumb or ugly. Kyle has a bad attitude toward Zola, his father's housekeeper. Kyle's girlfriend doesn't like the flower he's gotten her. She sarcastically thanks him for making her look like an "insensitive bitch" and tells him to "go blow a goat." Kyle refers to Kendra as "Franken-skank" and tells her, "Sucks to be an ugly cow." Kyle laughs at Kendra and the notion of "hooking up" with her. As a result of all of the above, Kendra (who's a witch), puts a curse on Kyle, disfiguring him. Rob refers to an unhelpful specialist as "Doctor crap-for-brains." Rob arranges for Kyle to live in another place, and initially pretends he's going to live there too, but then doesn't. Kyle has a bad attitude toward Will upon his arrival to be his tutor. Tyler essentially stalks Lindy out on the streets, following her around, etc. We see Kyle's website profile that states he likes anything "bangable," but doesn't like unattractive women (although he deletes this entire profile in his current physical state). Some drug dealers threaten Lindy and her father. After she refers to him as a friend, Tyler doesn't return Lindy's repeated calls (since he's hurt that she views him that way rather than as a possible boyfriend). About his new intern (who's just arriving and he has yet to met), Rob makes disparaging comments about the kind of woman he doesn't want, all while putting his chewing gum in his assistant's hand. FRIGHTENING SCENES Following Kendra's curse, Kyle's face and other skin are disfigured, with some deep gashes, raised veins (or similar markings), boils and other such features. There are many views of him this way throughout the film, and that might be unsettling to some viewers. Lindy goes out onto the street looking for her father, and it's then that we learn he's a drug addict. She finds him, but two drug dealers then confront them, with one holding a handgun on the father. Tyler then leaps into the scene and knocks the dealer aside, but that results in Lindy tumbling down some fire escape type steps and ending up unconscious. He then rushes her off only to hear gunshots. He returns to the scene and finds that her father shot one of the dealers (the other flees after promising harm to Lindy), and the father aims the gun at Tyler who quickly knocks it aside. GUNS/WEAPONS Lindy goes out onto the street looking for her father, and it's then that we learn he's a drug addict. She finds him, but two drug dealers then confront them, with one holding a handgun on the father. Tyler then leaps into the scene and knocks the dealer aside, but that results in Lindy tumbling down some fire escape type steps and ending up unconscious. He then rushes her off only to hear gunshots. He returns to the scene and finds that her father shot one of the dealers (the other flees after promising harm to Lindy), and the father aims the gun at Tyler who quickly knocks it aside. Not meant literally, Tyler uses the phrase "Shoot me now." IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "WTF" (short for "What the f*ck?"), "Is bullsh*t one word or two?" "Go blow a goat," "Best embrace the suck," "The answer is hell yeah," "Ball-busting, voodoo...slut," an incomplete "What the..?" "Don't embrace the suck," "Bitch-crafty," "Only idiots screw with witches," "Cheap ass," "Thank you for making me look like an insensitive bitch," "It's bad ass," "A-hole-ian behavior," "A flesh-eater at 4 o'clock," "Frankenskank," "Sucks to be an ugly cow," "God, you are...like a pig," "What the hell are you..?" "Doctor crap-for-brains," "He can carpe diem in Hell," "Sucks," "Creep show son," "Emo chick," "Bite me," "High school unquestionably sucks ass," "Living hell," "His bitchin' sense of style," "Ass-wipe," "Wassup?" "Sorry ass," "I'm not screwing around," "I screwed up," "You come near me, I taser your ass," "I didn't want to freak you out," "Rad," "So that you hurl chunks," "Like a natural born wonk," "I suck at that," "Shoot me now," "I pissed you off," "Catnip for sappy tools like me," "Do you hear that? Somewhere there's a baboon scratching his ass" and "Call now, bone-head." Kyle flaunts his good looks and superior-than-thou attitude in front of his classmates before his transformation. Kendra sports an eyebrow ring and what looks like a fairly large tattoo on the side of her face, but both are gone later. She also changes her hair color from one day to the next. We see that Kendra has defaced Kyle's class president campaign posters. Tyler swerves his motorcycle through traffic fast. Will, who's blind, throws darts into a dartboard. We see miscellaneous graffiti. Kyle and Will (who's blind) take turns driving golf balls off a rooftop terrace out into the city (we don't see any impact), with them yelling "Wassup" with each drive. Tyler wears a full ski mask so that Lindy can't see his disfigured face. After starting off with Lindy on the wrong foot with a bad joke, Will rewinds himself to meet her again, and makes sounds of his voice going in reverse. As a joke about Tyler's behavior, Will pretends he's going to vomit. JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A mild bit of suspenseful music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) A song has the lyrics, "Skinny dip. Kissing your wet lips. Such a cheeky face. Naked swimming race." Other songs had lyrics that we couldn't fully hear and/or understand, thus presenting the possibility of them potentially containing something objectionable. PROFANITY At least 1 partial "f" word (used as "WTF," short for "What the f*ck?"), 3 "s" words, 2 slang terms for sex ("bangable" and "hook up"), 1 potential one for male genitals ("tools"), 8 asses (1 used as "A-hole-ian"), 3 hells, 1 crap, 2 uses of "Jesus" and 1 use each of "God" and "Oh for Christ's sakes." SEX/NUDITY We see various views of Kyle working out while shirtless. We see various outdoor ads on buildings showing scantily clad male and female models in various poses. They include shirtless guys (including one whose pants are slightly open at the top) and a woman in skimpy attire, while another has her hand covering her otherwise bare breast while lying down. Kyle's girlfriend slaps him on the clothed butt at school and the two then briefly kiss. Kyle refers to Kendra as "ball-busting" and a "slut." Kyle's girlfriend doesn't like the flower he's gotten her. She sarcastically thanks him for making her look like an "insensitive bitch" and tells him to "go blow a goat." Kyle laughs at Kendra and the notion of "hooking up" with her. We see Kyle shirtless. We see Kyle shirtless while working out. We see miscellaneous cleavage. Tyler spots his ex-girlfriend and male best friend nuzzling at a costume party. We see Tyler shirtless while asleep. Will states that at 15 his friends were losing their virginity, while he lost his sight at that age. We see Kyle's website profile that states he likes anything "bangable," but doesn't like unattractive women (although he deletes this entire profile in his current physical state). We see Kyle shirtless. Will jokes with Lindy about a 1950s movie where virginal teenage girls are abducted for breeding stock. Lindy shows a little cleavage. A song has the lyrics, "Skinny dip. Kissing your wet lips. Such a cheeky face. Naked swimming race." Tyler catches Lindy from a short wall and lowers her onto the ground where he joins her. He's about to kiss her (as she lies on the ground, the very tops of her breasts visible -- but nothing explicit) when her ringing phone interrupts them. Lindy kisses Tyler. Later, Tyler kisses Lindy, and during the end credits we see some photos of them kissing. SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES We see that Rob pays little attention to Kyle at home, forcing the latter to text him (while in the same room) to get him to pay attention. Rob arranges for Kyle to live in another place (due to his newly disfigured appearance), and initially pretends he's going to live there too, but then doesn't. Zola states that it's been 5 years since she saw her three kids (due to the inability to get them green cards to come to the U.S.). Lindy isn't happy that her father's drug addiction has resulted in her having to go into hiding at Tyler's place (although she doesn't realize it's him). When she later receives a message that the drug dealer was caught and it's safe for her to return home, she deletes the message. Tyler doesn't answer when Lindy asks about his mom, and states that her mom is dead and that she never knew her. Tyler mentions hiding in a zoo theater as a kid (where he saw a film about a mother elephant coming back a year later to look at her babies' bones) after his father told him his mother left them. Lindy mentions her father being a teacher before her mother's death changed him. Lindy gets a call that her father has overdosed and she races home to be with him. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Kyle stating that beautiful people get it better than those who aren't. Kyle states that good looks are all that matters, and anyone who says differently is dumb or ugly. Zola states that it's been 5 years since she saw her three kids (due to the inability to get them green cards to come to the U.S.). Will states that at 15 his friends were losing their virginity, while he lost his sight at that age. The comment that it's not about how others look at you, but rather how you look at yourself. Drug addiction. VIOLENCE Tyler kicks something at a party while angry. Lindy goes out onto the street looking for her father, and it's then that we learn he's a drug addict. She finds him, but two drug dealers then confront them, with one holding a handgun on the father. Tyler then leaps into the scene and knocks the dealer aside, but that results in Lindy tumbling down some fire escape type steps and ending up unconscious. He then rushes her off only to hear gunshots. He returns to the scene and finds that her father shot one of the dealers (the other flees after promising harm to Lindy), and the father aims the gun at Tyler who quickly knocks it aside. Tyler accidentally hits his finger with a hammer. Tyler kicks an outside wall in anger when Kendra won't lift her curse. Reviewed February 28, 2011 / Posted March 4, 2011

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