Beowulf

Viewed: Theater (not 3-D)

I knew beforehand that this movie was computer graphics over real actors, so the the concept didn’t surprise me. But after seeing the movie, I can’t figure the reasons for making it that way. Most of the CG characters look enough like the real actors that you can identify them, and the end credits tell there were stuntmen involved in the filming. If the whole movie was filmed live anyway, why change it all over to CG?

As for the CG quality, most of the close ups and small movements were fantastically realistic (again, why not just use the real?), but some of the wider scenes and the larger body movements were not so good. Some character movements looked wooden. As one of my friends commented, “There were parts that looked like we were watching Shrek.” The movement of clothes seems to be harder to CG than naked flesh movements. And the running horses nearly made me laugh.

The story itself was good. It does deviate some from the original poem, but it does so to tie everything into one overarching plot. I didn’t think the alteration was a bad idea. But the end battle did start to stretch out a bit much, especially when the standard Hollywood action device of threatening the hero’s loved ones went on and on and on.

The scenes with Beowulf naked got out-of-character comical after the first instance of people and objects conveniently blocking the view of his genitals. If showing the full nudity is a problem (and I wasn’t interested in seeing B’s bits), then let him keep on his underpants—he kept them on in a later scene where he was otherwise naked. And ironically, the scene with him in underpants had Grendel’s mother fully naked but for a thin, liquid, gold coating over her specifics.

Overall, it’s not a fantastic movie, or an instant classic, but it is decently entertaining for a matinee price. The computer graphics work is really good, but not perfect. Unfortunately, the imperfections in the CG kept bumping me out of the movie world. Done as regular, old, live action (except, of course, for the monsters), I think this movie would have been great.

There is no extra scene at the end of the credits.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com