Beowulf is a strong, brawny epic with everything and then kitchen sink thrown in just in case. This is both a blessing and curse for this state of the art “motion capture” motion picture from Robert Zemeckis, the man responcible for Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and the Back to the future features.
Every 9’Th grader is forced to read the classic literature, usually against their will. The sing-songy phrasing and SLOW pace usually turn off the average high school student. Celebrated fantasy author Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery (everything from Pulp Fiction to Silent Hill) do an amazing job at cutting out the fat, and beefing up the action and sex to appeal to today’s audience. However, between the script that wants desperately to appeal to today’s younger audiences, while staying true to the source material, things get muddled. The directorial choice to have the picture computer generated might at first glance seem a wise one, given the heavy fantastical elements, that too becomes a misstep to a certain degree. Zemeckis fills the movie with almost distracting visual flair, seemingly just because he can. Also, the picture is in 3D, which is admitidly VERY cool. Unfortunately, between being a really cool 3D movie, a literate epic, and an action movie that can keep up with 300 and gladiator, the film ultimately only mostly succeeds at all of them, and doesn’t ever really feel like it reached the many goals it sets out to accomplish.
That’s not to say the film is nothing short of breathtaking. The computer animation on display here is the best ever, period. There are moments where Anthony Hopkins is speaking, and the camera zooms in on his face, and I guarantee that if an unsuspecting audience member were to walk in right then, they WOULD NOT be able to tell that it was nothing but pixels and digits. It’s s that photorealistic, at times. There does however seem o be some characters that are given more care than others. The women, for example, still lean towa
rd the “shrek” level of quality, while the male counterparts all get much more detail and fluid motions.
The action in the film is also very impressive. This is where the 3D aspect really comes into play. At the end of the feature, when a giant dragon is chasing our hero around, you can’t help but be amazed at the sheer level of violence on screen. Also, earlier scenes, such as Grendel’s attack on a cottage, works amazingly well, computer animated 3D movie or not (I was actually shocked at how graphic it was, especially given the p.g.-13 rating).
At the end of the day, Beowulf is a VERY COOL movie. That’s it. The story is more complex than you’d expect from this kind of movie, but the plot gets muddled in all the forced, albeit amazing action scenes, and it’ll be interesting to watch the film NOT in 3D, and see if the gimmick actually lets you focus on the content more. Time will tell, but as it is, it’s a perfect way to spend 2 hours of the holiday season, and certainly the best computer animated movie up to now.
Every 9’Th grader is forced to read the classic literature, usually against their will. The sing-songy phrasing and SLOW pace usually turn off the average high school student. Celebrated fantasy author Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery (everything from Pulp Fiction to Silent Hill) do an amazing job at cutting out the fat, and beefing up the action and sex to appeal to today’s audience. However, between the script that wants desperately to appeal to today’s younger audiences, while staying true to the source material, things get muddled. The directorial choice to have the picture computer generated might at first glance seem a wise one, given the heavy fantastical elements, that too becomes a misstep to a certain degree. Zemeckis fills the movie with almost distracting visual flair, seemingly just because he can. Also, the picture is in 3D, which is admitidly VERY cool. Unfortunately, between being a really cool 3D movie, a literate epic, and an action movie that can keep up with 300 and gladiator, the film ultimately only mostly succeeds at all of them, and doesn’t ever really feel like it reached the many goals it sets out to accomplish.
That’s not to say the film is nothing short of breathtaking. The computer animation on display here is the best ever, period. There are moments where Anthony Hopkins is speaking, and the camera zooms in on his face, and I guarantee that if an unsuspecting audience member were to walk in right then, they WOULD NOT be able to tell that it was nothing but pixels and digits. It’s s that photorealistic, at times. There does however seem o be some characters that are given more care than others. The women, for example, still lean towa
rd the “shrek” level of quality, while the male counterparts all get much more detail and fluid motions.The action in the film is also very impressive. This is where the 3D aspect really comes into play. At the end of the feature, when a giant dragon is chasing our hero around, you can’t help but be amazed at the sheer level of violence on screen. Also, earlier scenes, such as Grendel’s attack on a cottage, works amazingly well, computer animated 3D movie or not (I was actually shocked at how graphic it was, especially given the p.g.-13 rating).
At the end of the day, Beowulf is a VERY COOL movie. That’s it. The story is more complex than you’d expect from this kind of movie, but the plot gets muddled in all the forced, albeit amazing action scenes, and it’ll be interesting to watch the film NOT in 3D, and see if the gimmick actually lets you focus on the content more. Time will tell, but as it is, it’s a perfect way to spend 2 hours of the holiday season, and certainly the best computer animated movie up to now.
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