Beowulf

Impressions before seeing it
I have read the original epic poem from which Beowulf is adapted, but I have to admit it was kind of boring. I remember a lot of lengthy scenes describing feasts and celebrations and ceremonies, but I guess the rest of it was alright. Anyway, I wanted to see the movie more for the animation than the adaptation.

How was it?
Well, the feast scenes still made the cut, but at least they were more interesting here. John Malkovich's character, while perhaps pointless to the overall story, acts as a near antagonist in these scenes, regularly trash-talking Beowulf and refusing to believe his heroic deeds. Anthony Hopkins also contributes some humour as a hedonistic old king. But the best parts are the violent action sequences in which Beowulf demonstrates what a beast he is: escaping a sea monster's jaws by tunneling through its eye with his sword, fighting Grendel in the nude to be "on equal footing with the monster" (even though it's about 20 feet tall), and half severing his own arm to allow himself enough reach to rip a dragon's heart from its chest. Note to self: never piss off Beowulf under any circumstances.

Like The Polar Express before it, Beowulf uses that incredibly detailed motion capture animation system that makes the characters look freakishly similar to the actors voicing them. Especially, in this case, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, but I also recognized John Malkovich and Robin Wright-Penn because of the accurate depictions in them as well, and I picked out Crispin Glover as Grendel because of the voice. Anyway, the animation is gorgeous but it's one of those cases where it almost seems pointless to choose animation over live action when both would look so similar. Not pointless to me, because I am a big fan of 3D animation, but I can understand the argument.

Recommendation
From what I remember of the poem, the movie is similar more in concept than in plot details, but it's a lot more entertaining. But being an animation fan, I would probably like Beowulf a lot less if it were live action. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is still the most realistic looking animated film ever made, but this one might be a close second.