she's no hag

Beowulf has received all kinds of criticism based on the style of the animation used in the film. Apparently, for most people, it's the experimental nature of the visuals that have impacted more with people than the intelligent handling of the transition from poem to film, the vastly skilled nature of the writing, the talented voice-acting, the competent direction. The dialogue flowed naturally while maintaining a sense of lyricism, the characters were compellingly created and performed. The story was a strong adaptation of the original, though a little slow in places and I'm not entirely sure about the ending. Oh and the pure CG figures.... Grendel and the Dragon were truly incredible, especially the latter.

In the end, it had the requisite amount of romance and action, of strong and wise (if flawed) heroes and tempting and powerful (yet vulnerable) villains. It was an enjoyable couple of hours.

The animation. For those who've seen The Polar Express, the comparisons being made all over the place are, in the end, unfair. The Polar Express is flawed, not just in that it is the first use of Zemeckis' new form of digital animation, but in the fact that it is... well... tripe. Schlock. Struggling against scripting and story that would send insomniacs to sleep and some shockingly bad voice-acting, despite the talented individuals involved. Beowulf, while using the same form of animation, has the advantage of having everything else work so well and in working in a medium that calls for something that is... brighter and smoother than life could possibly be. If ever there was a film that suited "performance capture", it was this film, providing it with a sense of something greater than life, like a fairy tale, a legend, real and ethereal at once. True, it's not realistic in the sense of indistinguishable from live action but it does suit the feel of the tale it's being used to tell.





It was in no way perfect, not even close. There have been better films made, in every sense. It has moments that were ridiculous, where the suspension of disbelief did not quite hold. But it was good enough, was what it should have been: entertaining and thought-provoking, artistic and intelligent. Engaging enough that Beowulf's physical injuries had me wincing and I felt for Wealthow's sorrow, for Grendel's pain. The style of animation is, to some extent, distracting at times but, if you can see the story through the animation in Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within, you can see it through this as well.