Beowulf

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2007)

Beowulf is an animated film based on an old English poem thought to be written between the 8th and 11th century and nobody has ever known who the author was and people still do not know, but the poem has become very popular throughout the years and has been the basis for other films as well. The film is animated using a technique called motion capture where the film's directors would film action and things in motion by the film's actors and later animate it over with 3 dimensional animation. The same technique was used a couple of years ago in the film The Polar Express also by Beowulf director Robert Zemeckis. The film takes place in late 500 AD in England and is about a village that is terrorized by a monster named Grendel who frequently comes to the surface of the Earth and kills whoever is being merry and making music. King Hrothgar sends for a warrior named Beowulf to slay Grendel and after doing so, Beowulf soon becomes king of the land, but a lie that he has covered up with his famous battle will soon come back to haunt him and the kingdom. I think because of the animation and visual style of the film and also because it's story and action sequences that people will compare this film to this year's earlier film 300. While I gave 300 a pretty favourable review on this site mostly because of the visuals I felt that the visuals were better than the story and film itself, but luckily Beowulf uses great animation and visuals along with a truly exciting and entertaining story. Beowulf is a beautiful film to look at because of it's animation and I thought the story was full of action and excitement which was enough to capture my interest for the film's length. I have always been into mythology and stories of that kind, so for that reason Beowulf also intrigued me even more and I think that today there is a large audience into the sword battle and monster films, so I think this film should appeal to many and with it's great pace it will surely entertain. The only thing I had a problem with in this film was a few lines of dialogue that the screenwriters put in that were unintentionally funny in a crude kind of way when I don't think they were particularly meant to be, so for that reason I don't think those few scenes really fit in and I noticed the audience laughed like I did at said moments, so I knew I wasn't the only one with this complaint. Those lines and scenes just didn't suit a serious film like this. However this is only a real mild complaint while the rest of the movie I enjoyed immensely because of the fascinating story, the non stop action and the visual beauty of the animation. This is one of the best animated films of the year so far and I think if people were to ignore those few scenes and lines of dialogue I mentioned above then they should be in for a good time as well as a visually stunning experience as well.