Hoping It Had Been Live Action

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2010)

I'm surprised to see such a film coming from Robert Zemericks, I must say. Finally a movie on that epic poem of Beowulf that I read so much about in high school. Of course, I was expecting to see live action and to get the animation was a bit of a downer. It may look pretty close, but nothing beats the real deal.
For the voice cast we have some very good actors and actresses selected, like Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins. Playing Beowulf is Ray Winstone, who does great by the way. Grendel is a hell of a lot different than I always had imagined him. When I first read about it I had pictured him as a more reptilian type of being butyeah, he's kind of hard to describe in the film. Voiced by Crispin Glover, it was a more or less bad choice. Aside that, many differences between the poem and the film are present, some good, and some bad. Beowulf being a somewhat flawed man on the inside, something somewhat enjoyable. King Hrothgar being a womanizing alcoholic was something I found no point in honestly. However, the whole story arc concerning Grendel's mom as a seductress rather than a monster was unexpected and fun to figure out. First time I saw it, it definitely didn't hit me. How Grendel and the Dragon at the climax are children of power-hungry men, Hrothgar and Beowulf. It's really in-between the lines but a very interesting development. I just hate how she never diesa major annoyance considering Beowulf killed her in the poem not long after Grendel had been slain.
Alan Silvestri is not a bad composer, and the animation is beautiful so all in all Zemericks did well. I guess it all depends whether or not you take it seriously because it's not live action. Kind of a "The Incredibles" type of thing. Animation belongs to family films, and gruesome hero flicks belong live-action.