Mediocre

Rating: 5/10 (17 July 2008)

I wasn't really that interested in the movie Beowulf, but i when i got a chance to see it on DVD i thought i might as well. And honestly it was a bewildering experience.
Robert Zemeckis is in my opinion a fairly competent director, although not the most exciting one. Somehow it seems he's made it his "thing" to make special-effects heavy movies that even have effects where none are needed. I remember watching the (quite good) "What Lies Beneath", not realizing that almost every scene had been full of CGI. So it seems that Zemeckis gets a high from CGI (it rhymes!) and of course to each his own... But Beowulf really suffers from this. Maybe it's just me, but i can't see the point of this movie being animated like it is. You take good actors, nice-looking actors, and animate them to look like plastic versions of themselves. The effect is somewhat reminiscent of a slightly more realistic Shrek. Why would they do this? The CGI is so good today that they could just record the movie in front of a green-screen and add whatever they want, why animate the characters? This is my main problem with this movie, especially since the CGI doesn't look very good. The animations are stiff and objects seem to lack weight and substance in a way that was more common in CGI a couple of years ago.
I can't say that this movie "did it" for me aside from the CGI either. The story has been seen many times before and it's not really spectacular any more. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's uninteresting, but it does lack something to make it truly interesting. A definite upside to the movie is the actors. There are many recognizable voices (and faces, although they look plastic-wrapped) and many of them do a fine job with the material. I have always liked Ray Winstone and he doesn't disappoint here either. Most of the supporting cast were good, and Angelina Jolie was awful as usual. I honestly don't see what she has going for her except her looks. She re-uses the Russian accent from "Alexander" and puts in another pathetic performance. It's impressive to get so far while being so lousy in most of what you do.
Anyway, to sum things up i guess this could have been an interesting movie save for a few major flaws. We have a story that's a bit bland, characters that are hard to care about and a visual style that is severely lacking. On the upside we have mostly good actors, a good orchestral score and fair entertainment as long as it lasts. The next time around i hope they go for a more natural look, skip the CGI and work harder on the script. Unfortunately, this movie is mediocre.