Poor Grendel

Rating: 4/10 (6 November 2009)

Grim retelling of the famous epic poem with a hardly subtle myth-busting catch.
The motion capturing is just as stiff and waxen as in Zemeckis' "Polar Express"; the unsympathetic titular hero makes one actually root for the monsters, even if their mother's a witch who looks suspiciously like Angelina Jolie complete with high heels and a dreadful accent; and the sketchy narrative lacks real zest and fun, though certainly not violence and pseudo-nudity.
At least, the pic slightly improves in the second half, the action scenes and several visual touches are okay and some of the voice work - acting's the wrong term in this case - adds a touch of class.
4 out of 10 seduced kings