Beowulf - 1 Disc Edition [2007] - DVD (Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson - Dir: Robert Zemeckis)

Spectacular animated action scenes turn the ancient epic poem Beowulf into a modern fantasy movie, while motion-capture technology transforms plump actor Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) into a burly Nordic warrior. When a Danish kingdom is threatened by the monster Grendel (voiced and physicalised by Crispin Glover, River's Edge), Beowulf--lured by the promise of heroic glory--comes to rescue them. He succeeds, but falls prey to the seductive power of Grendel's mother, played by Angelina Jolie... and as Jolie's pneumatically animated form rises from an underground lagoon with demon-claw high heels, it becomes clear that we're leaving the original epic far, far behind. Regrettably, the motion-capture process has made only modest improvements since The Polar Express; while the characters' eyes no longer look so flat and zombie-like, their faces remain inexpressive and movements are still wooden. As a result, the most effective sequences feature wildly animated battles and the most vivid character is Grendel, whose grotesqueness ends up making him far more sympathetic than any of the mannequin-like human beings. The meant-to-be-titillating images of a naked Jolie resemble an inflatable doll more than a living, breathing woman (or succubus, as the case may be). But the fights--particularly Grendel's initial assault on the celebration hut--pop with lushly animated gore and violence. Also featuring the CGI-muffled talents of Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), Robin Wright Penn (The Princess Bride), and John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons). --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews of Beowulf - 1 Disc Edition [2007]

Tony
UK
26th October 2008

Terrible
The 'motion capture' is utterly pointless. Why not just use the actors as usual; you've filmed them anyway! It just proves a distraction in what is a very dull film. The miscasting and modern dialect ensure that the film comes over as a complete mess.

Rouchie
Yorkshire, UK
26th October 2008

For a rainy day
This is the first film I've watched in a long time that I don't really have a strong opinion on. For those ignorant of the film's contents, it is a computer-generated tale of a brave warrior who fights a savage troll, and who is then seduced by the troll's mother.
After seeing the big names on the cover, I was pretty surprised it was an animated film, although to be fair the quality of the graphics and animation is superb. I think Winstone is miscast as Beowulf, and there's too much showing off and bravado with his character, although it does make his fall from grace more dramatic. Perhaps someone like Sean Bean would have been better?
The storyline isn't great, although it is fairly entertaining. Its a shame the fast-paced start soon slows down, and I found it a little slow in places.
Also the ending is a bit wishy-washy. I get the whole point of the demon's seductive ways, but it would have been nicer to see Angelina Jolie's head diced cleanly off after all that posing around....(!)

barnie884
Netherlands
24th October 2008

Good entertainment
I have to admit, I was really not sure what to expect from this. This film seems to me that they are trying to prove what animation can do. The charachters are so much like the actors (apart from Ray Winston, whos wife I understand liked his new body!), that I am suprised it wasn't live action with lots of CGI. However much as I love Ray (good east-end lad that he is) I could not quite get what was happening with his accent, was he de-cockneyfying his accent?
It sounds like I didnt like this movie, but infact I did, very much.... just these couple of points for me mean 4 and not 5 stars

T. R. Alexander
East Anglia, UK
4th September 2008

A gorgeous and entertaining adaptation
Loosely based on the ancient tale of the 6th century hero, Beowulf is a brilliantly made film that is beautifully animated using Motion Capture techniques and is a greatly entertaining film. The film follows the traditional story relatively closely for the first part of the film but it does veer off on its own path after the death of Grendel. Although the changes that have been made do make this film something of a different animal to the original story but it remains exciting and I also doubt that a more faithful adaptation would be as well appreciated by modern audiences.

The computer animation used to make the fill is also truly spectacular, easily outdoing the previous usages of the Motion Capture technique such as Polar Express. The cast all give very good performances even if Ray Winston goes a bit over-the-top with his portrait of Beowulf as this seems somewhat appropriate for this film. In the end this can also be said of the film as a whole, it is an over-the-top homage to one of histories greatest heroes but for some reason it all just works. Some purists may dislike the departure from the traditional story and other film fans may not like the style of animation but in the end I personally feel that this was a great film.

Mr. Ross Maynard
Glasgow, Scotland
28th August 2008

Imaginative and odd, but watchable
I expected to hate this computer generated cross between "300" and "Lord of the Rings", but I actually enjoyed it - a lot. It is cleverly and imaginatively realised and very gripping in parts. There are problems with the film - the CGI nature of it means that you don't really get any emotion from the characters; the story is disjointed in the middle; and there are elements of storyline that are never followed through (for example we never know why Beowolf's relationship with the queen doesn't work out, and John Malkovitch's character has great potential but is not used). Nevertheless, it is better than the host of comic book films around at present. If you like adult fantasy, you should take a look at Beowolf.