And my first impression is "Wow!"

I thought the animation was spectacular, and also very well used, as there are some really cool perspectives used. The story was interesting and well told, and the characters were strong and the performances believable and, at time, touching. But most of all, the universe of the film was one of the most vivid I can remember in a long time. It was visceral and unique and ancient bawdy and harsh, even remarkably gory.

I'm not sure how people are going to react to the film -- it's not sentimental, or at least not sentimental in the way that we're used to hero stories being. I can't see the film being cherished in the way that, say, LotR is. It's not a warm fuzzy. It's more meditative than exhilarating, and when I say that, I speak to the themes and not the pacing or the action sequences, which are impressive.

I'm still collecting my thoughts, but I thought it was different and fresh and I'm not even sure what I would compare it to, and for that the film has my admiration.

Definitely go see it, and I recommend seeing it in 3D.

It's not being offered here in 3D, but we do have it in Imax. I'm all bouncy now after reading your review, Royko.

Hello, I'm new.

I saw Beowulf last night. I took my 7 and 8 year old son's. The first 15 mins scared them. Still, over all they loved it. The 3D was very nice. The story added some good insight into the minds of the characters. It humanized them.
It showed the paradox between human strength and weakness. It was well done!

As for the animation... my kids thought it was way cool. I had no problem with it. It is what it is. I found true joy in the experience.


For the record,
I had zero problem with the nudity. It showed nothing, really. If anything, it was annoying because they made angelina look like a naked barbie. Very unreal. Her crotch was weird and sterilized for a child audience.
It was the violence level parents should take into account.


I give it 4 stars when watched in 3D.
3 stars if seen flat.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: adrienne,

I just saw it too, although the 3-D was sold out, which made me sad. I liked it, especially since I went as part of a group of eleven, so we took up a whole theater row and had more fun than we had a right to.

However.

It did cause perhaps the most bizarre and disturbing dream I've ever had. *do not continue reading if you are eating or drinking, as it'll probably come out your nose shortly* So I saw the movie, and of course lots and lots of naked, gold-covered Angelina Jolie. I had fun. I came home, read Neil's blog, and saw the picture of him at the premiere. With these two images floating through my tired mind, I went to bed. And dreamed... of what else but naked, gold-covered Neil Gaiman. I woke up crying, I was laughing so hard. I didn't think it was physiologically _possible_ to wake up laughing that hard.

Heh. I just did a google search for beowulf message board. We're #4. Beowulf forum, we're #2.

Heh. I just did a google search of naked, gold-covered Neil Gaiman and got bupkiss. Maybe tomorrow after the searchbots make their sweeps of the board we'll show up.

Saw it in the 3D last night. I thought it was nice, especially the twist on the original saga.

quote:

Originally posted by adrienne:
I had zero problem with the nudity. It showed nothing, really. If anything, it was annoying because they made angelina look like a naked barbie. Very unreal. Her crotch was weird and sterilized for a child audience.

I am so with you on that. It was just weird.

I took my nephew to see it.

I thought it was OK but a bit.... weird in the liberties it took with the story.

I thought the monster Grendel was done very well but I don't know how I feel about this type of animation. The eyes of the characters are very strange. It still looks raw in the details.
We saw it in 3D and the effects were cool but it felt a little tiring after a while.

I would give it a C

quote:

Originally posted by Lan Martak:
I thought it was OK but a bit.... weird in the liberties it took with the story.

I've not seen the movie, but... I really can't see any way that someone could take the existing poem directly and make a film of it without more than a few liberties. It's just far too discontinuous. Heck, one of my favorite novels is one that does just that... takes Beowulf in a vague sense and writes its own story around it.

I wanted to share Roger Ebert's review with all of you.

quote:

In the name of the mighty Odin, what this movie needs is an audience that knows how to laugh. Laugh, I tell you, laugh! Has the spirit of irony been lost in the land? By all the gods, if it were not for this blasted infirmity that the Fates have dealt me, you would have heard from me such thunderous roars as to shake the very Navy Pier itself down to its pillars in the clay.

I actually wasn't too impressed by the 3D version. Some of the panoramas were amazing, but the people looked overly flat thanks to the layered 3D effect.

Crispin Glover rocks.

quote:

Originally posted by Mitsuko:

With these two images floating through my tired mind, I went to bed. And dreamed... of what else but naked, gold-covered Neil Gaiman. I woke up crying, I was laughing so hard. I didn't think it was physiologically _possible_ to wake up laughing that hard.

Someone NEEDS to send this to Neil's blog.

quote:

Originally posted by megsish:
I am so with you on that. It was just weird.

If anyone wants to send the, er, "gold-covering incident" to Neil, that's fine with me, but I'll not be the one to do it, hehe...

just gotta say - I laughed out loud when I read that bit! Welcome aboard Mitsuko - there's lots of fun to be had in The World's End section of the board and there's prolly a red balloon and virtual pie waiting for you.

I saw it this Saturday and I liked it. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't know it was CGI, but it didn't really play into a really dominating role for me.

As the story goes on, and you see the ending though, you think Neil. That's for sure.

Also, Grendel's mother was an awesome symbol for things.

Grendel's mother -- the mother of monsters, and mythology.

Isaw it w/o 3-D and want to see it in IMax 3-D. I'm glad they didn't label it as cartoon or animated, cuz of the less than serious meaning American folks have about films that are animated or cartoon. No matter the medium, Beowulf is good. The visuals and the story. I thought Hollywood had given up on mature animated features after Final Fantasy, but I was wrong and I am glad. I knew u could do more with animation than you can with living things. I hope the game has the same quality graphics.

I saw it last night. I enjoyed myself, but I'm one of those who really doesn't understand Zemekis's obsession with CGI people. The storyline was great (to me) Showing Beowulf as a real person, a blustery arrogant warrior who makes mistakes, but a good story fixes that - I liked that. I liked the twist about Grendl and his mother.

The acting, well, it lacked a bit for me - Crispin Glover totally got into his role, to a certain extent, so did Angelina Jolie, and Beowulf dude and his cohort, they did fine, but Anthony Hopkins mostly seemed lost and the blonde queen chick was just phoning it in. Was it because of the CGI stuff and they never really interacted with the other players?

The dead eyes thing annoyed me, the everything's absolutely realistic until we move around thing and then it becomes blobs annoyed me. The storyline fascinated me. It showed just how bards (or the media) can twist a story and how one little lie can become millions of little lies. And how greed and lust can twist everything.


I was thoroughly unimpressed with John Malkovich - was he not even trying? Oddly enough the whole CGI thing actually made Angelina Jolie more life like, although I don't understand why she chooses weird accents for her roles.

I can say, that I enjoyed the storyline details more, than film itself. 'Zemekis and his CGI people' are sometimes more funny than heroic, yet the whole story and the changes in the original legend... ouch. Dialogues. Details. Nuances. That was delicious. I wish it wasn't the film, but a book...

And... Grendel. Its screams. Its uglyness. Perfect thing.))

It just opened here today! be back with impressions.