Test Screening: Beastly

Yesterday I attended a test screening of a film that I really had no interest in seeing, especially given the subject matter. The film was called Beastly and it is based on a series of young adult/made for teenagers books of the same name by Alex Finn. The story centers around a popular high school senior named Kyle at an elite and prestigious college preparatory school and how through his superficiality, cruel behavior and superior attitude, he is cursed by a witch to be as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Only to be free of his curse if he can find at least one person to utter the words, I love you within a year lest his curse becomes permanent. Hence this film is obviously an updated and reworked version of Beauty and the Beast, replete with a catchy soundtrack filled with all the latest song from pop culture. The films stars Alex Pettyfer as Kyle and the Beast, Vanessa Hudgens as his would be love interest and Savior, Mary-Kate Olsen as the witch who curses the Beast, and Neil Patrick Harris as Kyle's blind tutor Will.


The film as a whole was much better than I expected it to be and I rather enjoyed it. The make up for the beast and his overall look were really well done. Though this film is definitely made for little girls, and anyone who is male or over the age of 18 is not really going to enjoy themselves as much as they could. I think I would have enjoyed it more if wasn't made by CBS films, whom I didn't even know were even in the business of making Theatrical films. Which is probably why the film looked and felt like the film was a made for Lifetime Television or some sort of straight to DVD fare. Though the music they used was substantially better than what is usually featured on anything shown on television, most likely because of the exorbitant licensing fees for such songs. Still the film noticeably lacked all the qualities that would have distinguished itself as a real theatrical production. In fact it was my understanding that Beastly was going to be an actual television series and not an actual movie. Though I am not sure how they would have Neil Patrick Harris on both series at the same time, especially since his character in this is only a slightly watered down version of Barney from How I met you Mother fame.


I hardly ever check my emails associated with this account and only recently thus noticed that CBS has emailed me asking me not to comment on their film since it was a test screening and not the finished product. Seeing as I have not posted any copyrighted material, nor signed an actual release stating that I would never discuss the film. I legally do not have to comply with their wishes, and since my review is not actually negative, I do not see any reason why I should have to take down my posting in the first place. Sorry CBS, but I actually haven't broken any laws. Plus you would think that you'd like all the publicity you can get for your films, online or otherwise?