Vikings attacked by computers rather than monsters

Rating: Null/10 (21 March 2008)

I had extremely mixed feelings about this latest adaption of "Beowulf". Is an archaic, wild'n'rough Viking epic the ideal subject for a glossy computer animation movie? I don't think so. The totally artificial look of everything (some actors looked as stiff as puppets, especially Malkovich and R.W. Penn) understandably lead to comments such as "it's a trailer for a video game, just too long". To be fair, there was a lot of effort put into some departments. I liked the music by Silvestri, the macabre story elements (probably courtesy of Neil Gaiman), some impressive fights and monsters. Grendel was suffering so much you'd almost sympathize with the critter. He bites heads off to make that feeling go away ;-). Angelina Jolie was so well animated they must have taken a lot more time on her than other characters (I understand that perfectly, guys). Anthony Hopkins was excellent once again, and his role had the depth missing in most others who either hack, slash, run, burn or scream. For all the violence, the rating seems to mild, by the way.