Based on the epic poem, the story follows Beowulf's rise to greatness as he defeats the monster Grendel, faces Grendel's mother who seeks the warrior out of revenge, and eventually becomes king.


There's a part of me that's skeptical about Robert Zemeckis's ability to do this well. After the creepy CG of The Polar Express and those souless eyes, it just seems like a challenge to do this well. The animation is pretty dead on for the actors, making me wonder why Zemeckis wants to bother with all of the animation – why not just hire the actors to act, and film this as a standard movie?

Still, that creepy CG that plagued The Polar Express doesn’t seem so prevalent. I mean, it’s still there in a few places, but there is also some pretty damn cool looking stuff here. Some of these shots are downright artistic, like a painting coming to life, which makes sense considering the historical legacy of the story of Beowulf. I think I’m starting to understand why Zemeckis wanted to go this animated route now.

The true test will be in the end product shown on the big screen. Can it pay proper respects to one of the oldest known pieces of literature, or will this just be another product that falls short? Either way, it can't be worse than Christopher Lambert's take, right?

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