I barely remember reading Beowulf in school, but I’m pretty sure I did.
That said, I didn’t remember the story at all.
I then read, or at least read about, different versions of said story in comic book form.
Then I saw on DVD a recent version of said story, Beowulf & Grendel, starring Gerard Butler, in which Grendel is very humanoid looking. Maybe like a Neanderthal. Pretty cool flick.

Now comes Robert Zemekis’ motion capture Beowulf with Ray Winstone voicing the hero, Crispin Glover voicing the really, really tormented Grendel, and Angelina Jolie voicing Grendel’s mother.

Visually, this movie was like Zemekis’ POLAR EXPRESS. Apparently not much has been advanced in technology, especially with the “dead eyes”. That’s not to say that at times the art in Beowulf isn’t stunning; It is. But at times, not so much. As a matter of fact, Angelina Jolie’s look was too cartoony, which is a shame, since she was basically nude the whole time. Some of the group shots of the soldiers and villagers however were practically photographs. They looked that realistic.
Oh, and I saw it in 3D.
But I don’t know why.
Seriously, I can imagine that seeing it in IMAX 3D would make a difference, but on the regular size screen, it seemed unnecessary. Oh well.

The vocal performances were hit and miss in Beowulf.
Ray Winstone, who was so imposing as Mr French in THE DEPARTED does a pretty good job as the title character. He’s tough and kind of arrogant, but does have a soul, no matter how troubled. Anthony Hopkins didn’t work for me. Cartoony and over the top. Sorry. Crispin Glover’s emotional performance was intense, but way out there, and Angelina Jolie’s accent was a bit weird, but overall she did OK.

It’s weird, because all told, Beowulf is a case of the sum being less than what the parts should equal. A fine cast, and two very talented writers on the screenplay, Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, as well as director Robert Zemekis, of course, should have led to an incredible film.
Sadly, I wasn’t all that impressed.