Great animation, good characters, and a dull, predictable plot.

Rating: 6/10 (16 November 2007)

"Beowulf" is not at all what the trailers portray it to be. They make it look like a nonstop action scene. Where there are a lot of action scenes, and they all are done very well, this movie is actually quite slow moving, and has very little plot for the long time it fills.
The plot of "Beowulf" is an amazingly simple one. A creature kills many men during a party, and the king needs a hero, so here comes Beowulf. Beowulf slays the beast, but can he kill an oddly seductive animated Angelina Jolie, or will he give into his primal instincts....not a hard one to figure out. I'm not going to go too deep into the plot, simply because I don't want to spoil anything.
The movie is split into two separate times, one a bit earlier than the other. The first half of the film was really enjoyable. I liked the characters I was being introduced to, the action was fun to watch, if not just to show off how much money they spent to make it look this good. The dialog was mildly amusing too. The second half was boring and predictable and led the movie nowhere. Where in the commercials it looks like this movie has nonstop action in many sets...it doesn't. The movie is mostly localized inside the King's mead hall, where much of the action and all of the drinking takes place. It was good that it took place in one area almost the entire movie because it gave the audience an intimate feel with the area, but it also never let us see what beautiful 3D CGI world that could have been created. The animation was lush and detailed, but that didn't make up for lack of story.
"Beowulf" could have been a grand and heroic tale, but instead was merely interesting animation, well choreographed action scenes, and a whole lot of nothing.
My rating: ** 1/2 out of ****. 106 mins. PG-13 for animated nudity and violence.