In Annie Hall,"" Woody Allen famously told Diane Keaton not to take any class where they make the students read ""Beowulf."" The millenniums-old epic poem is famously dense and has given English students headaches literally since the beginnings of English classes. Robert Zemeckis' new computer-generated adaptation of ""Beowulf"" may well serve as this generation's Cliff's Notes when they're assigned the ponderous poem. Rarely have Cliff's Notes looked so beautiful but felt so boring.
""Beowulf"" follows its title hero, played by Ray Winstone, as he seeks to save a Danish village from Grendel, portrayed by Crispin Glover speaking entirely in Old English, a monstrous creature who is attacking the village and killing its citizens. After defeating Grendel, Beowulf faces Grendel's mother, played by Angelina Jolie, a scantily-clad demon who is, understandably, slightly peeved at our hero.
""Beowulf"" shows its age in the narrative of the film. The film and its script are fairly bland with a few oddly-placed ""lighter"" moments that don't quite fit into the structure of the film, including a series of Austin Powers-like puns hiding Beowulf's ""personal sword"" during his nude fight with Grendel.
The film drags, especially in the first hour or so. This is surprising considering the screenplay was written by Sci-Fi all-star Neil Gaiman and ""Pulp Fiction"" co-writer Roger Avery; maybe the source material was just too old to make it seem brand-new again.
If you believed the Spartans of ""300"" celebrated being Spartans too much, Beowulf will make you wish for their return. Winstone's Beowulf has no discernable personality aside from being very strong, enjoying sleeping in the nude and shouting his own name a lot as he slays a foe. Additionally, usually reliable actors like Anthony Hopkins and John Malkovich sound wooden and uncomfortable in their animated surroundings.
The bright spot of ""Beowulf,"" the gorgeous animation, shines so bright it may blind many to the film's obvious flaws. ""Beowulf"" was filmed with motion-capture technology, which captures actors' actions and then translates them into a computer image, the same technology Zemeckis used in ""The Polar Express."" Many animation flaws and strange-looking characters of the earlier film are gone, and it's amazing to see how far the technology has come in such short time.
Beowulf's final fight with a dragon is especially impressive, with cringe-worthy detail that may make you temporarily forget you're watching animation. Combined with the 3-D presentation available at some theaters, ""Beowulf"" is stunning to watch, and feels more exciting and immediate in 3-D than it does without the glasses on. If you have a choice between standard projection or seeing ""Beowulf"" in 3-D presentation, it is in your best interest to see the latter. ""Beowulf"" is a film made with visuals in mind and benefits from employing all of its available technology.
""Beowulf"" represents a huge leap forward in computer animation and will definitely be the start of what is an exciting new technology in movie making. As exciting as the action and visuals are, there's something lacking with the storytelling of ""Beowulf"" - it feels too old and rusty for a movie whose technique seems determined to move forward with filmmaking.
As an experiment in animation, ""Beowulf"" is a triumph. As an exercise in storytelling, it's time to go back to the drawing board.
