Not So Epic

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2007)

Honestly I didn't go to this movie expecting it to be a masterpiece. That would have been pointless--sort of like everyone who went to 300 thinking it would be an actual quality film.
Of course Hollywood had to skew the original tale of Beowulf, so I won't even go in to that. Creative license and all, and really, the story line was the least of this film's problems. My biggest beef was with the use of 3D. Really, if you're going to go all-out with 3D effects, at least try and be creative. In this case, it worked entirely against the movie.
Anthony Hopkins looked like Anthony Hopkins. Grendel's mother looked like Angelina Jolie. I have to wonder then, what is the bloody point? Why not just film the actors since you're not going to take any artistic liberties with the character designs save hair and some costumes? Moreover, why were we stuck looking at Angelina Jolie the entire time instead of actually getting a glimpse of what her true form was? Additionally, as others have mentioned, most of the movie felt like you were watching cut scenes from a PC game. The animation on the humans was incredibly stiff in a lot of parts. For such high-end graphics, this film did a very, very poor job.
Finally, I found it very difficult to sympathize with Beowulf at all. His character flip-flopped between being the great hero and the weasely old man trying to redeem himself. A shame, really.
I'll give them a six for effort.