Great Book Sh*tty Movie

Rating: 4/10 (20 November 2007)

Beowulf has been my personal favorite book ever since I read it. I read it three times now. Every movie I have seen or heard of based off the book was nothing ridiculously bad but you could easily tell why they weren't in theaters and some of them were decent but nothing too exciting.
I was really excited last year when I heard that a Beowulf movie was actually going to be released in theaters! So the wait is over and I finally saw the movie...
It was nothing like I anticipated it to be. The movie shows Grendel as some sort of monster to be pitied, which the book shows him as a heartless demon without mercy. Grendel was more of an annoyance than anything in the movie with his constant whining/yelling and immature, babyish, personality.
Grendel's mother in the movie was mainly an animated Angelina Jolie, which again, her personality and looks were nothing like the book. The movie shows Grendel's mother and the dragon to be in some sort of league with each other. The dragon was killed years after Beowulf killed Grendel's mother, according to the book.
So in other words you have a great story but a sh*tty movie. The CGI animation throughout only made it even worse. The book was not based on Norse mythology, which the movie made references to Odin and Ragnarok and such, but rather based on beliefs of God. (The book was supposedly written by a Christian monk with all these references to God) I'm not saying that this entire movie should be based on the book. But I was expecting something similar to that of the 13th Warrior, which strongly reminds me of Beowulf every time I watch it. It had a dark feeling throughout, was about a culture similar to that of the vikings, and was well-written. Beowulf promises animation, annoying accents, annoying yelling/screaming, and whining. It felt like watching a child's version of Pathfinder mixed with Shrek. Beowulf is shown as a fallible character and is persuaded into a deal with Grendel's mother. I could go on and on with the mistakes of this film and how much of a disappointment it was.