Beowulf [Digital 3-D] (2007)

n Denmark in the year 507 a.D., elderly King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and his people are terrorized by the misshapen half-human, half-demon Grendel (Crispin Glover). Hrothgar orders the mead hall sealed and sends out a call for a hero to come and rid the kingdom of Grendel. Several months later, Beowulf (Ray Winstone) answers the call. Beowulf and Hrothgar's
queen, Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn) are clearly attracted to one another. Hilarity ensues as Beowulf prepares to battle the vile Grendel. And to make it fair, since Grendel uses no weapons, Beowulf will face him naked.

Trivia: According Ray Winstone, he and his fellow cast spent days filming in blue skintight suit, "showing up all your lumps and bumps in all the wrong places. Which can be hard when you're standing in front of Angelina, who looks stunning in hers." According to visual effects supervisor Jerome Chen, close to 300 cameras were used to motion capture the performances, compared with 64 to 72 for The Polar Express (2004).

Well, after much hilarity ensuing in my own life, I am back to torture you with my well intentioned yet sometimes lacking reviews. Beowulf. I watched this in Digital 3-D and it is stunning. This isn't your parent's 3-D. The action is smooth and the image is crystal clear. The only thing is that currently it is only being used for animated movies. That will change with the release of Journey 3-D with Brendan Fraser next year, the first live action Digital 3-D movie (the preview looks awesome), but back to the movie. Be sure to watch this in the 3-D format because it will enhance the movie tenfold. The movie itself is a tad simple and at times maddening in the animation. The motion capture is great for the action, but things like the eyes of the characters is still lacking. There just doesn't seem to be much life in the eyes at times and occasionally the backgrounds disappoint. The action more then makes up for the occasional lapse in the animation and once or twice you actually forget you are watching an animated movie. The motion capture does a fantastic job capturing the performances of the actors and with actors like Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich (the king's adviser), Robin Wright Penn, and Angelina Jolie (the water demon, those are her legs in the poster) you get some good performances. The camera also is unhindered because of the fact that it is animated so you are treated to some exceptional camera angles that you would be hardpressed to duplicate in anything but CGI. So to sum up, if you watch this film, be sure to see it in 3-D.