I just happened upon this movie out of boredom. I do not have any personal stake in this movie like those who have read the books. It is a interesting movie, and due to the caliber of the cast, the acting is above average. It is definitely of better quality than Twilight in every aspect. Bottom line; I'm slightly older than 18, and I enjoyed the movie. However, the main characters' southern accents are horrible; especially the lead actor. In all honesty, it was distracting. Individuals in SC do not have a Louisiana drawl. Lord help!

Let me start by saying I never read the book or even heard of this story at all. So I went into this movie with a completely open mind and no expectations. It seems like most of the hate for this movie is coming from people who read and loved the book. I was also shocked to see that the movie financially did poorly because I thought it was magnificent. I am a huge sucker for romance. To me, love is magic so adding in actual magic only makes it better! The chemistry between the two actors was AMAZING. I was pulled right into their epic love story. I wish there had been even more between them and less of all the other characters.The religious nonsense was very difficult to deal with but I think it was done to illustrate how different the two main characters were from the people they were surrounded by and the place they were trapped in.This does not get a full 10/10 for me because I found certain aspects of the plot very convoluted. I thought that Lena's evil cousin was awesome but I did not feel that she needed to corrupt and control Ethan's friend in order to accomplish what they wanted to do. I also did not feel like the reenactment was entirely necessary, it felt like the plot could have culminated in a different way. I see what they were trying to do since they had been past lovers but even that felt like it didn't need to be that way. Couldn't they have just been in love now?I am so glad that he remembered her in the end because I HATE open endings. I do not know why some writers insist on doing them. To me, an open ending is like finishing a beautiful, delicious meal for yourself and then deciding not to eat it. All that work for nothing!I saw that there were several sequels to this book but I feel like it ended great. I did not expect her uncle to sacrifice himself for her which was beautiful. I would have also liked to have actually seen the form of her mother and for the cousin to have gotten what she deserved. But I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves fantasy and romance!

If you love to hate bad YA novels and their tired clichés, you'll have a blast with this. At least I did. Highly recommended if you like to talk back to movies with friends. I'll admit this has a halfway-decent premise (one of my original stories has a similar premise!) but it is executed with no passion or creativity. I was smiling dementedly throughout this movie at its failures. Let me use the seasoned metaphor of the train wreck--so disastrous, you're fascinated. Take the romantic leads, who share the most brain-melting lack of chemistry this side of Twilight. I honestly thought Bella in the Twilight movie demonstrated a more well- rounded character than the main girl in this! Ethan (I'm ashamed that I picked up the characters' names) makes Kevin Costner in Robin Hood look like a credible hero. That takes a special level of incompetence. I suspect they cast him because he sounded the most Southern. (Ah, the old "actors too old to be playing teenagers" cliché!) Now, I'm not from the American South, so the prevalence of the accent was all the more conspicuous for me. Speaking of which, why should you suffer through this? Emma Thompson plays a stereotypical church lady. You won't believe that, at least. Also: Am I the only one who thinks Jeremy Irons has only got hotter and hotter? The older, more talented actors easily steal the show. Well, there's not much of a show to steal in the first place. I couldn't believe it when Thompson gave Lena that by-the-numbers "Join me and we can rule" speech towards the end! At least the absence of self-awareness gives one cause to laugh at it.This is not the worst story ever conceived; it could have worked better. I will give the movie credit for the following things: 1) No love triangle, and 2) The aged male aristocrat is on the good side. And I was genuinely sad when he died and didn't see it coming. Maybe the book is better, but where's the fun in being awestruck when you can feel smarter than something?

Ethan lives in Gatlin, South Carolina and visits high school there. He bemoans the fact that he has little prospect of leaving, and has applied to a number of colleges. The town seems stuck in the past, particularly the Civil War. His mother is dead; his father is next to catatonic. His welfare is looked after by himself (somewhat) and Amma (mostly). One day a new girl arrives in his class, Lena Duchannes. Her family founded the town some centuries ago, and still owns everything of importance in it.Ethan wants to get to know Lena, which immediately creates separation between him and almost all of his former friends in town. Ethan visits Lena at home, which creates immediate tension between him and her uncle, Macon Ravenwood. The Ravenwood/Duchannes clan are gathering at the family compound to witness the coming of age birthday of Lena.So far, this all seems rather ordinary. The fantasy element is that all members of the Ravenwood family are casters; that is, beings who cast magical spells, often with considerable power. At the sixteenth birthday, Ravenwood teenagers reach their full power as casters, and choose between the dark and the light sides of casting. Lena would rather not be a dark caster like her mother Seraphina, but fate seems to have marked her to be such. Ethan would like to be Lena's husband, but has the full opposition of everyone in Lena's family. Amma would like to help Lena and Ethan to their best possible outcome.I've seen this film compared to Twilight, which is odd. This film has good acting and a witty script. I do not remember laughing while plowing through Twilight, but this one is much better. I anticipated some of the outcome, but not all, and the route to get there was a fun ride.