A ‘Beastly’ failure

Love is never blind. Love is in the eye of the beholder. These are just a couple of the clichés the plot of “Beastly” fails to qualify as original.

Adapted from a young adult novel, “Beastly” opens with Kyle (Alex Pettyfer), the popular and vain son of a successful news anchor, running for president of the green committee against Lindy, played by Vanessa Hudgens. Meanwhile, Kendra, Mary-Kate Olsen’s character who plays the school’s witch, is conjuring a curse for Kyle after he asks her, as a joke, to a dance. Once the curse is set, Kyle has seven months to get someone to fall in love with him despite his physical transformation.

The gimmicky dialogue as the romance between Lindy and Kyle grows is bad for the lead actors’ already bad acting, with the exception of Neil Patrick Harris’ inexplicable role, which adds needed comic relief.

The most genuine connection I felt during “Beastly” was when Kyle’s maid imparted the burden of being a parent, proving that love is much more than a bunch of teenage love scenes.