One of the most repeated complaints about Hollywood is its lack of originality. (Others include: It’s too liberal, it’s too conservative, it’s homophobic, it’s pro-gay, it’s too populist, it’s elitist, and so on.) Considering the number of remakes, reboots, and rip-offs of great or popular movies we’ve been offered in recent years – from Clash of the Titans to Footloose, from The Amazing Spiderman to The Bourne Supremacy, and Harry Potter wannabes from The Seeker to Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief – this criticism is not unfounded. With the exceptional financial, if not artistic, success of the Twilight films, supernatural teen romances have shown up everywhere. It’s how we got The Vampire Diaries and Red Riding Hood. And it’s how we ended up with Beautiful Creatures. The authors of the book the film is based on even brag about its similarities to other work, hyping a quote from School Library Journal claiming, “Give this to fans of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight or HBO’s True Blood series, and they will devour all 600-plus pages of this teen Gothic romance.” The good news is that the movie is neither extremely long, nor terribly acted, nor soft core horror porn. Continue…