The future of action and fantasy films as we know it, 8/10

Rating: 8/10 (6 December 2007)

*CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS*
Just like the director's previous films "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," and "Back to the Future." "Beowulf" is a movie both entertaining and visually spectacular. And it's been a very long time for an animated movie to debut strictly for adults. Ray Winestone is wonderful as Beowulf and so is Crispin Glover as the grotesque and violent Grendel. The two actors are probably the ones with the most body tweaking through the CGI process. Still they display great voice work. Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, and John Malkovich are all nice touches too.
The plot has monumental differences from the epic poems. But this film could have taken a whole step backwards by having violence cleaned up as if this was a Disney film. Which it is not. And if you are unwise to compare this movie to a video game you'd better take a look at the cut scenes in parts you don't play. Obviously the video sequences are afterthoughts. Video game designers don't really care about face expressions, lip movements, or body language, only the actual game play. Unlike "Beowulf" which is computer animation at its best. Sometimes you can mistake it for being a live action movie. With lifelike violence and male and female nudity. Of course, we will see more of this film-making in the future, because when "Beowulf" is talking in one scene and fighting a dragon in another, that character would need a CGI double for that action scene. But if Winestone is already rendered in CGI, there is no doubling!! People can believe that the "actor" can clearly be seen in every shot. Do yourself a favor and see this film. I made the mistake of seeing it on the normal screen when it should really be seen in 3-D. Incredible characters, action scenes, scenery, monsters, and storytelling.