A Geatsman comes from an area of today's Sweden named Gotaland, which translates, Wikipedia helpfully explains, as "land of the Geats. This leads to a great deal of well-timed Austinpowerism, which translates Wikipedia does not explain as "putting things in the foreground to keep us from seeing the family jewels. Now when I say, for example, that Sir Anthony plays Hrothgar, or John Malkovich plays Beowulf's rival Unferth, you are to understand that they supply voices and the physical performances for animated characters who look more or less like they do.
Crispin Glover , however, does not look a thing like Grendel, and if you are familiar with the great British character actor Ray Winstone you will suspect he doesn't have six-pack abs. Variety reports that Paramount has entered "Beowulf" in the Academy's best animated film category, which means nothing is really there, realistic as it may occasionally appear. I saw the movie in IMAX 3-D, as I said, and like all 3-D movies it spends a lot of time throwing things at the audience: Spears, blood, arms, legs, bodies, tables, heads, mead, and so forth.
Not bad for a one-dimensional story. But I'm not complaining. I'm serious when I say the movie is funny. Some of the dialog sounds like Monty Python. No, most of the dialog does. Grendel is ugly beyond all meaning. His battles are violent beyond all possibility. His mother Jolie is like a beauty queen in centerfold heaven. Her own final confrontation with Beowulf beggars description.
To say the movie is over the top assumes you can see the top from here. Now about the PG rating. How can a movie be rated PG when it has female nudity? I'll tell you how. Because Angelina Jolie is not really there.
Any students that believe they can watch the new cartoon movie "Beowulf" and then fool their English literature professors into believing that they read the 6th century Anglo-Saxon epic poem are in for a rude awakening. Indeed, none of the film or television versions of the Beowulf legend have kept the action of the original old English poem intact. As the first adaptation of the ancient Beowulf yarn, "Grendel Grendel Grendel" drew itsstoryline from author John Gardner's novella "Grendel.
Not only was "Grendel Grendel Grendel" the first attempt at filming Beowulf, but the movie also relied on animation to render its larger-than-life events. Later, British director Graham Baker helmed the first majorattempt to film the vintage Old English poem. Baker cast "Highlander" actor Christopher Lambert as the protagonist in "Beowulf" , but it departed drastically from the poem, too.
Essentially an outlandish science fiction spin on the fable, Baker changed the setting of "Beowulf" from ancient times to the post-apocalyptic future. More recently, The Sci-Fi Channel aired its version of Beowulf back in January of and called it "Grendel," but it differed in several aspects from the original poem, too. Not surprisingly, "Back to the Future" director Robert Zemeckis' new"Beowulf" takes considerable liberties with the source material. Director Robert Zemeckis states unequivocally in a promotional video for "Beowulf" that his film "Right now, I can only say that this has nothing to do with the Beowulf that you were forced to read in junior high school.
Scribes Roger "Pulp Fiction" Avary and Neil "Stardust" Gaiman dispense with the poem's opening lineage passages and launch headlong into the myth. As the story unfolds, King Hrothgar Anthony Hopkins of "Fracture" and his Danish subjects are about to christen a massive mead hall—something akin to a private corporate camp house--with women, liquor, and loud music. Amazingly, Hrothgar and company create such uproar that it enrages Grendel, a truly pathetic-looking monster in the snow-swept wilderness not far away from the hall.
This murderous fiend storms the mead hall and slaughters warriors left and right. Basically, Grendel consists of bone and sinew, but he is merciless when he goes on a rampage.
Naturally, Grendel's bloody massacre horrifies Hrothgar, and the king summons any and all warriors willing to risk their necks, to slay Grendel. A Swedish warrior named Beowulf paunchy Ray Winstone of "The Departed" and his sword-wielding soldiers arrive after a rigorous voyage. Hrothgar reopens the hall. Beowulf strips nude and sets aside his arsenal of weapons. He plans to kill Grendel with his bare hands. Later that evening after all the revelers have passed out, Grendel surprises them, but the warriors are ready for him.
Beowulf rips off Grendel's arm, and the monster vamooses. Not long afterward, Grendel's mother appears and challenges Beowulf. Grendel's mother is not the hag in the poem. Instead, she emerges as a sexy, shape-shifting siren in stiletto heels, played by "Tomb Raider" star Angelina Jolie.
What Avary and Gaiman have scripted is not much more than a standard "Conan" movie, except for the alluring power that Grendel's mother exerts over King Hrothgar and later Beowulf. The two writers have filled in the gaps between the three major set-pieces; 1 Beowulf's battle with Grendel, 2 Beowulf's combat with Grendel's mom, and decades later 3 the fight with a dragon. In doing so, Avary andmGaiman argue that King Hrothgar had a tryst with Grendel's mom and sired their illegitimate offspring.
Altogether, Zemeckis' ambitious but underwhelming "Beowulf" resembles a souped version of an 's Jonny Quest episode, unless you're fortunate enough to catch the 3-D version of this movie in an IMAX Theater. The animated eyes of the characters lack the vivacity of actual humans. Furthermore, their hands are crudely drawn and they look hilarious when they run. Despite the considerable advances made in photo-realistic, motion capture technology, "Beowulf" forfeits the subtly nuanced acting skills of thespians like Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Robin Wright Penn, and Brendan Gleeson.
Meanwhile, everything non-human looks terrific. All works of literature and film are linked by universality. Sadly, the hilarious looking Grendel villain and the less-than spectacular animation of the principal actors defeats "Beowulf. Motion capture movie making is of course still in its very early stages.
It shows some potentials for the future of film-making but it's not really good enough at this moment to make a great and convincing movie with. Still the most convincing computer animated movie was "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" and that movie proved to be so costly that the studio went bankrupt soon after the movie its release. Who knows, maybe in 10 years from now it will be perfected and people will be able to make this type of movies faster and cheaper and above all also better.
I'm actually looking forward to the day they start making movies with the likenesses of already deceased actors, complete with voice impersonating techniques. Wishful futuristic thinking or the future of film-making? Who knows, time will tell, although I'm sure that there always be need and demand for actors and 'normal' film-making, so all those crew and actors wont ever have to go back to school to learn a different profession.
And overall the movie really makes you think at times why did they have to make this movie completely computer animated? Couldn't they had done basically just as good with live action movie making techniques with live real actors in front of the camera?
Overall the look of the movie is good but at times it still feels as if you're watching a cut scene of a Playstation game. Especially during some of the action sequences. Of course the beauty of computer animated movies is that you can go just as far and over-the-top with its action as you want to, since there are no limitations to its possibilities.
Notmally I'm not a big fan off silly over-the-top action in animated movies but in this case it didn't bothered me since it seemed to suit the story and the character of Beowulf right. It also makes this movie more or less look like a 'children's' movie, which "Beowulf" definitely is not.
While it looks seem to be made for the younger ones, the story is definitely one for adults. And also the movie features quite an amount of graphic violence. But of course a movie is not all about its looks.
The story of Beowulf seems like a pretty entertaining and strong story on its own. However this movie gives you the feeling that it isn't giving you halve of its story. At times the movie makes to big leaps into time, which makes you wonder what happened in between. It was as if they ran out of time or money or both halve way through the production of the movie, which forced them to cut a large portion of its story. It therefor isn't the most coherent movie to watch but this only becomes more of a problem in its last part.
The most part of the movie and its story does entertain but it also knows to build some more depth and brings some layers into the story, that focuses on the nature of mankind. It doesn't all work out and not as effective as it could had but the right intentions for it are definitely there.
Some of the possibilities of motion capture movie making already shows in the look of its characters. Ray Winstone is a far from muscular or heroic looking actor but thanks to the wonders of technique he looks like the perfect super human with amazing strength. On the other hand some actors look the same way as they do in real life, such as Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson and Angelina Jolie, which again in a different way also shows the possibilities of computer animated movies.
Still I hope that Robert Zemeckis will also return to 'normal' film-making again. His last 'normal' movie "Cast Away" already dates back from Don't forget that this is the guy that once brought us the Back to the Future-trilogy, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Forrest Gump", "Contact" and the earlier mentioned "Cast Away", among many other great movies.
We need some more movies like that Robert! He already however is working on another motion capture movie at the moment, "A Christmas Carol", based of course on the famous Charles Dickens novel. Nevertheless "Beowulf" remains a perfectly watchable, entertaining movie, for in between to watch.
I watched the Director's Cut version of this; I understand that the only real difference is in this not being censored. Nothing else is added or removed. I did not see this in 3D; I can imagine that portions of this are more impressive that way, but it also seemed to get excessive at points. That's the main problem with these things; those making them get carried away, forgetting that CGI is a tool like numerous others available to film-makers , and show off the technology, and far too many reward them with "oohs" and "ahhs", neglecting to take into account if they remember how it was on the whole, afterwards.
The camera flies and does tricks like a well-trained pet, and a good deal of them are superfluous to this. With that said, this does set and maintain moods, and it certainly is visually impressive. The eyes are dead, as has been pointed out. This has gorgeous "sets", art and design. This uses old English words and phrases some, and even a little of what is apparently the actual language spoken at the time. Yes, the accents are pretty atrocious. I don't really know the legend, so I can't say how close this stays to it.
This is a fun ride, and it makes sense to animate it, since it is an adventure as opposed to A Christmas Carol, a story that was never "epic" or fast-paced. It is action-packed, and the fights are awesome. There is a bit of ego-stroking, which is logical enough for a myth taking place in that period and environment.
The cinematography and editing are excellent. This has marvelous music and songs, too. It's engaging and thrilling, and doesn't overstay its welcome certainly not by much. Dialog is well-written and well-delivered. All in all, I'd say at least a single viewing, if it appeals to you. There is a lot brutal, bloody and gory violence, occasional sexuality, infrequent moderate swearing and a little nudity in this. The 2-Disc DC DVD holds six featurettes that I will review on their individual pages here on the site and 11 and a half minutes of reasonable additional scenes note: all in pre-vis state, not completed , and comes with a comic.
I recommend this to anyone who can imagine enjoying it. It is a very strange sensation to watch a film where the cast comprises largely imitations of the people in the cast: watching Anthony Hopkins occupy a replica of himself is profoundly weird. The experience then becomes even weirder when the character inhabited by the larger than life persona of Ray Winstone isn't Winstone!
One also has to overcome the expectation that a cartoon film if one can refer to a wholly CGI film as such is aimed predominantly at the younger viewer: Beowulf contains some quite savage violence, not to mention some earthy humour, and is definitely not for youngsters. It is a worthwhile effort, though. Taking some liberties with the ancient epic poem, it tells an exciting story, and always looks good.
The cast are all excellent even if, as noted above, they are somewhat distracting , and it is worth singling out Crispin Glover for his stunning performance as Grendel - he makes a barbaric murdering monster something deserving of sympathy. I can't comment on the 3D as I saw a flat copy, but I can imagine that it would have been very effective. An interesting experiment, and one which was successful in artistic terms, even if perhaps not in commercial terms.
Beowulf review JoeytheBrit 23 June And kill it he does - in the nuddy, no less! An engaging story that's well told, but having Beowulf sound like an East London barrow boy on the West Ham terraces is a constant distraction.
Setup works given an interrupted celebration that unfortunately didn't involve shutting down the film. Director Robert Zemeckis sinks with pitiful dialogue, formula storytelling, a laughable conclusion, and special effects that are about as festive as an outdoor toilet. Ray Winstone constantly bellows, "I am Beowulf! Didn't anyone realize how ridiculous this looked? Anthony Hopkins plays the regretful drunken King who pays for his earlier actions.
It is the one passable performance in the film. Robin Wright basically sits and looks pretty. We can at least be thankful that she isn't yelling out Beowulf's name. Crispin Glover plays the monster Grendel. Finally Angelina Jolie as the marketing payoff as Grendel's mother who seeks revenge but not before trying to seduce Beowulf thus teasing the audience.
Message of heroism is not evident in the laughable delivery but what is evident is that Zemeckis may need a stiff drink after this one. Wuchakk 9 March It uses live action motion capture animation, which was previously utilized for "The Polar Express" and "Monster House" The film has the same characters as the epic poem - Beowulf, Hrothgar, Wiglaf, Grendel, Grendel's mother and the dragon - and the three Acts split between Beowulf's fight with Grendel, Grendel's "sea hag" mother and the dragon; other than this the film deviates from the poem with some interesting ideas to tie everything together.
Needless to say, don't watch if you're a Beowulf purist. It's both entertaining and thought-provoking. I should add that, not only is this a beautiful film to look at, animated or not, it also has an excellent epic Viking-ish score by Alan Silvestri, highlighted by the main title, "What We Need Is A Hero," and the two versions of "A Hero Comes Home," the first is the shorter version sung by Robin Wright-Penn whereas the second, sung by Idina Menzel, plays during the end credits.
The message of this animated version is that the reality behind the story is much different than the legend because it has been embellished over the years. Some reviewers complain that Beowulf isn't a genuine hero, but he's certainly heroic, faults and all.
He then goes on to lead a mighty Nordic kingdom for decades to come. If this isn't heroic, what is? So he exaggerates his past exploits and has a weakness for women, what else is new? The main lesson, aside from the one noted above, is that new political leaders tend to make the same mistakes as past political leaders, so new leaders should be careful or they'll experience the same pitfalls.
Some things to chew on: Why is the dragon one-and-the-same as a noble-looking gold-skinned man? Does this signify he's a cross between malevolent blood and noble blood mother and father respectively? Is the golden man his spiritual side and the dragon his dark side? Some criticize that Beowulf is not a Christ-figure, as in the poem, which isn't accurate. Keep in mind that, according to the Bible, all things were created through Christ, which would include the angel Lucifer a "son of God" , who later devolved into Satan.
Likewise the golden man in the movie is the son of Beowulf and ultimately revealed as a hideous dragon. All human types of Christ are flawed because humans are flawed, even "heroes" like Beowulf which, again, is one of the main points of the film. Hence, Beowulf's perception about "weeping martyrs" is faulty and can be attributed to his fallen condition when making the statement. Later, he rises out of the ashes to slay the dragon and sacrifice himself for the people.
Right before doing this he declares his love for his wife and asks her to forgive him for his past failings. One scene had an impact on me. The fact that Banderas is the only well-known actor aside from a brief appearance by Omar Shariff in the film actually increases the feeling of alienation around his character, and his journey from prevailing the Vikings to respecting them is well-done.
The 13th Warrior is about cultures meeting and clashing in all sorts of different ways, and it tells that story incredibly well. Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site! Have a tip we should know? She's a trained lawyer and opera singer as well as a mom and author. Follow The Mary Sue: Twitter.
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