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When at the cinema, I get really angry with people who can't seem to keep their mouths shut during the trailers, let alone during the opening credits of the film, so it often pleases me when the start of a film is loud and sudden. Beowulf is no exception, and the first scenes portray a stereotypical Scandinavian hall during a celebration, complete with a fat Anthony Hopkins. All the noise and debauchery from the hall attracts the rage of the monster (you have to read 'monster' in a Ray Winstone accent) that the country is having problems with. The film goes on to focus on the events that spin off this encounter, but don't expect anything of any decent scale. Basically, Beowulf comes along to save the day, kills the monster, makes a mistake, gets the girl, becomes king, regrets his mistake, fights a dragon, etc, etc. For a film set in a really nicely rendered setting, this is one area where it disappoints.

Animation

Now I haven't read up on how the animation was done in the film, but I can say that the results are pretty damn good. Aside from a few robotic movements where Beowulf is running along a cliff later in the film, everything is handled really smoothly. Add to that the fact that a lot of the film moves really quickly, so half of the time you wouldn't really notice anyway, and you get a beautiful looking movie.

I should add that it's well directed as well, but I think it goes without saying that Zemeckis, in my opinion, has always had a nifty eye for lighting and composition.

Characters

The second half plods through leading up to a conflict that whilst is entertaining, is not going to draw gasps of surprise or horror from the audience

As a whole, I think the character dynamic of the film worked pretty well, but I think was let down by the way it was used. For the most part, the plot (more on this shortly) interfered, and I was left was feeling no emotion at all towards any of the characters. Even Angelina Jolie, who played a sexy, weird, gold monster thing, did not inspire any feelings of dislike towards her devious character in the film.

Plot

The downfall for me, the reason why this potentially great film seemed to lose its way half way through. The first half is great, setting the scene nicely with some good fights and some drunken Scandinavian behavior. You feel as if it's a build up, that in the second half there's going to be some sort of massive war or something, but there isn't. You want Grendel's Mother's (Jolie) deception to be something twisted and unexpected, you want her revenge to be devastating and harsh, but really, it isn't. The second half plods through leading up to a conflict that whilst is entertaining, is not going to draw gasps of surprise or horror from the audience.

Final Thoughts

Don't get me wrong, this film is definitely worth a watch; go grab some popcorn, some absurdly sized drink, some 3D glasses and have fun watching it. Just don't expect, like I did, anything more than just a bit of fun.