Decent Fantasy Epic

Rating: 6/10 (22 August 2014)

At first I didn't like this movie at all. I thought the animation was a dreadful idea. What is the point in animating perfectly good actors and actresses when special effects nowadays allow you to have great visuals but still have people looking like real people?
But eventually I got used to the style and it stopped bothering me. Just as well because it meant I could enjoy what is actually a rather decent epic adventure story.
I studied the poem Beowulf at university and I'm familiar with the story, so I noticed where the movie deviated significantly from the plot.
However, I actually preferred the plot of the movie, because it brings an additional tragic element into the tale and makes Beowulf seem that bit more human. I honestly don't think the Anglo-Saxons would have minded. In fact, I think they would have relished the relentless focus on action, heroic deeds, mead halls and wenches that fills the movie from start to finish.
It's not an exceptional movie by any stretch of the imagination but a decent fantasy epic all the same.