Beowulf

More than 10 centuries in the making, the epic Old English poem "Beowulf" arrives on the big screen. The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump and Back to the Future), who uses motion-capture animation to bring the story to life. Using digitally enhanced characters rather than a live-action cast serves Zemeckis very well, allowing him to create spectacular action sequences, with Beowulf fighting dragons underwater or cutting through sea monsters' eyeballs in mid-air.

Written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction), fans of the classic story may be intrigued, but more likely frustrated, by the changes the screenwriters have made, especially in the second half of the film. Beowulf is far from an unblemished hero, King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) likes his alcohol, Grendel's mother's power of seduction plays an integral role and so on. Yet the foundation of the story is much the same. Sixth century Denmark is haunted by violent attacks from the monster Grendel, who attacks King Hrothgar's hall Herot in gruesome fashion, tearing inhabitants limb from limb (the MPAA must have been bribed not to give this film an R rating).

And so arrives the mighty Beowulf (played by the much-plumper-in-real-life Ray Winstone), the legendary hero and monster slayer, whose grand storytelling and pompous demeanor make for some of the film's best moments. Beowulf's confidence is questioned by Unferth who has seen warrior after warrior come from far away only to be torn apart by Grendel. After Beowulf battles Grendel and tears off his arm, the film begins to seriously diverge from the original plot. Beowulf must confront Grendel's mother who, unfortunately for him, looks a lot like Angelina Jolie, someone he'd rather make love to than kill.

While playing at regular movie theaters, Beowulf has also been released at the most IMAX theaters of any major film in history, and for good reason. Its stunningly realistic visuals are why the film appears so violent. How much viewers enjoy Beowulf, like any film adaptation, will depend largely upon how well they can stomach changes to the original story. If they can do so, they'd find Beowulf to be a very fun, well-crafted movie.