Beowulf

Synopsis: An animated adaptation of the story of Beowulf, the famed warrior who must fight and defeat a series of monsters. [Robert Zemeckis, 2007, USA, rating: M, running time: 113 minutes]

Beowulf is a zesty adaptation of the 8th century English epic poem. The eponymous hero of the Geats saves a Danish kingdom from the monster Grendel, then Grendel’s mother and, finally, a dragon. It’s a swashbuckling tale of derring-do, Scandinavian-style, distinguished by 8th century source material and a strong cast. Anthony Hopkins plays the drunkard King with Robin Wright Penn as his sorrowful Queen and Ray Winstone in a surprising show as a towering blonde hero. Crispin Glover, whilst unrecognizable, brings a keen anguish to the monstrous Grendel, with Angelina Jolie as his beautifully monstrous demon mother.

But something is a little fishy about this animated adaptation. There is some controversy as to whether Zemeckis’ approach - also used in his Polar Express (2004) - should even be called animation, as it is based on actors in motion-capture suits with CGI effects recreating them on screen. This revolutionizes production with no need for sets, costume, or makeup. Youth and muscles, such as transformed Ray Winstone, can be added where needed. The final result has been converted to an intense 3D experience at Imax or selected cinemas – don the polarized ‘sun-glasses’ and see the film pop out of the screen. It’s nothing like the green and red tinged days of 3D Hitchcock!

Despite these novelties, live action may have given the film more punch. Internet trailers show an intriguingly blended photo-realistic yet fantastic style but the same images on the vast screen highlight the technical artifice, occasionally to a distracting degree. There is also a degree of distracting artifice to the adaptation of the original story. It may be based on a grisly, life-and-death tale yet it has a fair share of strangely cheesy moments as Beowulf fights Grendell in the buff or her mother strokes his sword. Beowulf’s fall to temptation, which brings with it a vengeful dragon, is an interesting twist, but unrelated to the epic.

Beowulf was a poem about a hero but Zemeckis’ film may not be doing it justice. It has moments of greatness, just not enough of them.

3 flims.