Beowulf (2007) - a Movie Review

Beowulf is a computer generated action adventure based on the epic poem Beowulf. The basic storyline is Beowulf defeats the monster Grendel and Grendel's demon mother and in turn becomes a famous king. The price of his great fortune is a dark secret that will come back to haunt him thirty years later. Ray Winstone is the voice of Beowulf. Robin Wright Penn is the voice of Wealthrow, Beowulf's eventual Queen. Angelina Jolie is the voice of Grendel's mother. Anthony Hopkins is the voice of Hrothgar. The computer generated characters are based on the actors who voice them. The animation is quite impressive, especially of the demon voiced by Angelina Jolie. The demon really looks exactly like her. All of the main voices look exactly like the actors that voice them except for Beowulf (and Grendel).

I was not that impressed with the movie. I just learned by checking on imdb.com that the movie was originally released as 3-D. I doubt viewing it in 3-D would have changed my opinion. Yes the movie is visually stunning but that doesn't save the storyline. The only part that held my interest was the scenes with Grendel's mother but unfortunately her scenes were few and far between. I am sure any guy will love the scenes with her in it because of the whole "nudity" factor but I enjoyed the scenes because Angelina Jolie did a great job of bringing out the true wickedness of the demon with just her voice. I have nudity in quotes because I am not for sure if it counts as nudity since it was all computer generated. It still seemed very real and actually disturbing when it was the nudity scene with Beowulf. Beowulf decides to fight Grendel in the nude with some asinine reason of fighting fair. Can a mere mortal really fight fair with a 20 foot tall demon with superhuman strength? Beowulf just wanted an excuse to drop his clothes in front of the queen. He was also way too comfortable being nude in front of all his warrior friends.

The Beowulf epic poem was never a favorite of mine and none of the movie remakes and especially not this movie have changed that opinion. Same old story of man is seduced by power (and beautiful women) and that results in the death and destruction of lots of people. I was not impressed with the movie. I give it 1 star out of 5.