“THE HOST” MOVIE REVIEW. A Full Dose of Pretty Young Things.

“THE HOST” PRESS PREVIEW

Quirky, bewitching, mesmerizing.

These would be the superlatives you may wish to pile upon “THE HOST”.

It’s like a poetic romp into the fairy tale splendor of “ALICE IN WONDERLAND”.

It’s liken to leafing through a VOGUE magazine fashion spread, where every single shot is ultra-perfect and oh-so-beautiful.

In the film, the young actors are draped in the latest colors of fashion, sashaying singly or in a pair, a la catwalk-style, in the middle of a desert.

You have group tete-a-tete, where everyone sits or stands in carefully planned synchronized poses.

You are treated to extraordinary panoramas, beautiful sunsets, fabulous sands, mountain caves and elegant sport cars such as the Lotus Evora zooming showingly, amid sprawling landscapes.

The Director-of-Photography ROBERTO SCHAEFER certainly work wonders to usher you into his world of aesthetics.

And of the film director ANDREW NICCOL?

Focusing on so much beauty, he probably lost his sense of bearing and direction.

“THE HOST” is lauded a dud that has more fluff than buff.

To be devoutly honest, I’ve never truly fancied any of STEPHENIE MEYER novels.

 I am way out of her sphere where her target audience is concerned, despite that she has the whole teen world swooning at her feet following the successes of her gawky “TWILIGHT” vampire romance series.

If  you relish dainty sweetie pies and hunky dreamboats, then you find a swarm of these aplenty in all her movies.

“THE HOST” is STEPHENIE’s classic example that bestows you with a full dose of pretty young things.

It’s a futuristic movie.

We have the Earth dominated by blue-eyed aliens who called themselves Souls, and they are so far succeeding in making the planet a living haven by eradicating cruelty with kindness. Just picture a lovely world with its inhabitants dwelling in harmony.

There’s a snag though.

The Souls would first have to inhabit the human body, killing the original personality in order to execute their plan. Which means the entire human race would face extinction in due course, save for a few defiant groups of rebels.

Melanie (SAOIRSE RONAN) continues to fight for her life even after she’s captured, with her body taken over by a Soul called Wanderer. This is where our story starts.

 We have her involved in  a love triangle with two beguiling young hunks.

And the parable continues as the creator knows it would.

Really.