Quite entertaining- but too violent(No real big spoilers, I don't give out the climaxes)

Rating: 5/10 (6 November 2010)

"I am BEOWULF!!!" roars out the epic hero in the trailer; unfortunately the animation(if I may call it so, )was not as impressive for me. It tells a typical epic story(alas, I have never read the poem: )face the beast, then its seductive mother, and then(as a last surprise) the dragon!
Knowing that Beowulf heavily inspired "the Lord of the Rings, " I expected a deeper story; however, it did not go further than a stereotypical portrayal touching every character on surface. I liked how they interpreted Grendel, showing his terrible physical agony. The movie brings up the question: "who is the real beast, humankind or the monsters?" Whereas it fails to discuss it seriously and uses it as a nice decoration instead. The performances are quite strong, and actors are not defected or limited by CGI.
I watched the animation in 2D and surely know that I would not want to see it in 3D. Actually I thank god that I did not watch it in the cinema as I planned to, for I was totally horrified by the amount of violence and dark images. I still sort of liked the imagery of the attacks of Grendel(like the fire turning blue, or how realistically the queen reacted, or how Grendel treated humankind like a bunch of terrifying bugs,) but I still think that it-by far- was not suitable for a thirteen year old. I would probably come out of the cinema shaking if I were thirteen...(and understand, violence is my nickname, so I am not exaggerating it.)
In the end, I can recommend it to you only if your guts are strong enough to see the spilling of other's guts. It is a nice movie night animation to watch with your friends and a good motivator for reading the epic poem, but I probably would not watch it a second time.