Beowulf

Just like the hero Beowulf, despite his bravery, is ultimately a toy in the hands of unpredictable fate, the transfer of his story to the big screen is a toy for Zemeckis and his team. A toy that is enticing for the audience and almost irresistible for some. However, it is unattainable for most of them. The creators played with it for so long that it became usable only for their own enjoyment. The race in the sea, the battle with the dragon, or the camera flyover from the king's hall to Grendel are scenes that will stay in my mind for months, but the story itself was shamefully lost among them. After all, Beowulf is an ancient legend that has inspired many famous works of fantasy. So why does it rely almost exclusively on pathetic speeches or vulgar (meaning crudely rough for the time) outbursts in the first half? I don't know if I would want to see a determined warrior in a live-action version, as such blunders would be even more pronounced. Additionally, despite the animation "filter," the actors are truly excellent, Winstone has charisma to spare, and even Alison Lohman, despite having limited screen time, can brighten up the fading ending with her traditional gentle beauty. But I still trust Zemeckis. I just can't shake off the fear that he won't ultimately deliver that perfectly combined story with revolutionary animation. (12/21/2007)

"Sins of the fathers!" To start with, here’s my main objection: although performance capture animation has advanced a step or two since Polar Express, but it still suffers from Madame Tussaud’s waxwork syndrome. And some movements are a bit weird, to say the least. Mainly, I am trying hard to forget the horses. Right, and now for the “rest". The environment, the free floating camera, action scenes, Silvestri’s soundtrack, the voice performances and the excellent adaptation of this saga in verse into a classic-looking heroic drama that respects the spirit of this ancient saga. A movie that could have been outstanding, but the sterility of the characters doesn’t allow you to tune into the huge wave of strong emotions that can be found here. This applies partially to the part with Grendel, not to the outstanding royal part. That works as it should in all aspects and as a whole. Zemickis would doubtless have done better to make this as a classic epic. On the other hand, that would have meant no technical challenge, no leap forward for filmmaking, so it would have been rather pointless. And still Beowulf left a strong impression on me that will take a long time to fade. I don’t deny that the Imax version is responsible. At least we have a solid picture for adults that makes full use of the possibilities offered by 3D. And to make things better, it isn’t dubbed into Czech and so for the first time ever, the volume at Prague’s Imax wasn’t turned right down, so the clash with the dragon at the end was really spectacular. The sound pushes you back into your seat and the “such and such" flying at you has you flinching involuntarily. Beowulf could and, essentially, should be better. It is too significant a work for it to be just a mediocre movie. In this respect, it might have been better to make a more toned-down adaptation, a demythicized Beowulf & Grendel. But the subject material is so powerful that it has something to offer even in the places that it lacks energy. But you have to be ready to forgive the filmmakers a lot. An average movie that is perfect as a demo of the technical capabilities of Imax, and of cinema entertainment of the future in general. (11/29/2007)

Effort is good and it definitely counts, but the fact that it is a 3D animated film where the characters look quite realistic is not a factor that would really throw me off. I remember not liking it even in the cinema, and after watching it a second time, I can only confirm this. There are great action scenes, but they don't redeem it overall. (03/11/2015)

Beowulf is visually stunning in all respects, with great music by Alan Silvestri, whether spectacular or dark, in Angelina Jolie’s cave. Also, the atmosphere of the film is so thick that it could be cut with a knife and the violence, sex and the overall maturity of the film are major pluses. These aspects make Beowulf an original and much livelier animated movie than the childish Polar Express. But there is one big but... these digital pictures just don’t have heart, no matter how hard they try. And at the moments when there is no Anthony Hopkins, Angelina or some monster, there’s nothing to watch. If Robert Zemeckis mastered the heart of digital animation, he might make better movies than Pixar. But he still has a lot to learn. (01/07/2008)

In terms of the script, Beowulf is surprisingly a very atypical and bold piece of work that is strangely unfocused (100% Gaiman's work) and enriches the heroic epic with the theme of bravado in the face of the awareness of one's own vulnerability. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it's a well-written screenplay. Avary and Gaiman were dealt a "go wild!" card by Zemeckis during rewrites, saying that if a minute of film was going to cost a mega, let it be seen. Yet they failed to get two thirds of the film out of one pub and instead demonstrate their screenwriting freedom through one-liners like "My mighty lust limb can transport you to paradise, to ectasy, and back". A certain deliberate woodenness and naivety inherent in the myths, then, is the sort of thing that perhaps a classic filmstrip wouldn't pull off as well as a full-CGI one, which we naturally tend to see as a kind of stylization, though Zemeckis doesn't attempt much of one. Then again, the problem (see my review of The Polar Express) is that digital technology will always age rapidly, and today Beowulf already looks worse than interactive titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Witcher 3. (06/17/2021)