Beowulf [Blu-ray] [2007]

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk
Spectacular animated action scenes turn the ancient epic poem Beowulf into a modern fantasy movie, while motion-capture technology transforms plump actor Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) into a burly Nordic warrior. When a Danish kingdom is threatened by the monster Grendel (voiced and physicalised by Crispin Glover, River's Edge), Beowulf--lured by the promise of heroic glory--comes to rescue them. He succeeds, but falls prey to the seductive power of Grendel's mother, played by Angelina Jolie... and as Jolie's pneumatically animated form rises from an underground lagoon with demon-claw high heels, it becomes clear that we're leaving the original epic far, far behind. Regrettably, the motion-capture process has made only modest improvements since The Polar Express; while the characters' eyes no longer look so flat and zombie-like, their faces remain inexpressive and movements are still wooden. As a result, the most effective sequences feature wildly animated battles and the most vivid character is Grendel, whose grotesqueness ends up making him far more sympathetic than any of the mannequin-like human beings. The meant-to-be-titillating images of a naked Jolie resemble an inflatable doll more than a living, breathing woman (or succubus, as the case may be). But the fights--particularly Grendel's initial assault on the celebration hut--pop with lushly animated gore and violence. Also featuring the CGI-muffled talents of Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), Robin Wright Penn (The Princess Bride), and John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons). --Bret Fetzer

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Customer reviews

review by: alan presneill date: 2008-06-06 rating:
Visually stunning
Quite superb in action and detail,the day when actors are not needed on screen is surely drawing closer judging by Beowolf.It is certainly gorey for a 12 rating,but the film gets better as it moves on.I am judging the film on itself rather than anything else.I do not go for total CGI generally but this was great,well worth buying.

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review by: date: 2008-05-09 rating:
Very gory for a 12 rating!
A lot of reviews already cover the impressive computer generated images, high HD quality and likes and dislikes re the voices so I wont go over that again.
What did surprise me was the graphic and copious amount of mutilations and gore in this film, considering it is a 12!
Pretty sure that if this was not computer generated it would have got a 15 or maybe 18 rating.
Considering that the line between CGI and live is getting narrower (and this film takes a big step across that line) I decided not to let my 12 year old watch this, it's not like he's missing a particularly great film!

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review by: date: 2008-05-09 rating:
Movie: 3.25/5 Picture Quality: 4/5 Sound Quality: 4/5 Extras: 3.5/5
Beowulf: Director's Cut (2007) - Warner - Blu-ray
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Disc Type: BD-50
Video Codec: VC-1
Average Video Bit Rate: 14.85 Mbps
Running Time: 1:54:42
Movie Size: 19,898,591,232 bytes
Disc Size: 31,281,197,732 bytes
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 16-bit (975 Kbps ~ 3 Mbps) DIALNORM
DD AC3 5.1 640Kbps
In-Movie-Experience: No

Beowulf: 2 Disc Director's Cut (2007) - Paramount (U.S) HD DVD
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Disc Type: HD-30
Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Average Video Bit Rate: 21.84 Mbps
Running Time: 1:54:35
Movie Size: 22,921,168,896 bytes
Disc Size: 23,272,262,096 bytes
DDPlus 5.1 1536Kbps
In-Movie-Experience: Yes

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review by: date: 2008-04-16 rating:
no wulf whistles for this one!
This review sums it up perfectly
From Time Out London
`Bollocks! Give me a gobble, then!' This sample dialogue is typical of the many miscalculations made in Robert Zemeckis' tediously protracted, mis-judged and puerile animated adaptation of `Beowulf'. It's evident from the script - by British-born graphic novelist Neil Gaiman and Tarantino's one-time collaborator Roger Avary - that it wasn't the power and beauty of the language of our great eponymous, anonymous eighth-century Old English epic encomium that attracted the filmmakers. Nor, indeed, was it the work's insight into pre-Anglo-Saxon history, as Anthony Hopkins' Welsh-accented kinsmen and the snowbound mountain castles of table-flat Denmark bear eloquent witness. But even as a mere convenient launchpad for some vertiginous, 3D-assisted, man-on-beast heroics located in the eternally-adolescent gothic/fantasy/horror comic-book tradition, it seems an irrelevance.

Part of the problem is the animation technology itself. In re-animating the actors' performances, `enhanced motion capture' (the technique Zemeckis adopted with `The Polar Express') makes of them creepier spectres than the creatures by which they are often surrounded. Thus, however gloopy and cadaverous the 20ft Grendel (voiced by `crazy' Crispin Glover) appears or how unexpected we find the swoops of the fire-breathing dragon (non-Equity) and how bizarre the serpents-tailed Goldfinger babe presented by his protean mother (Angelina Jolie), none of them can compete with the sheer, unsettling oddity of the humans, with their milky-blind eyes. This applies especially to our hero, Beowulf, beneath whose glistening, highly sexualised , often naked rejuvenated body and bulging, leather-bound musculature lies the just-detectable face and movements of dear old Ray Winstone. The final, kinetic aerial battle scenes are eye-poppingly spectacular - especially in the 3D IMAX-version under review - but they come way too late to save the film.






review by: aannttiiiittnnaa date: 2008-04-07 rating:
Too late for truth?
One of the most enduring legends of all time and Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman feel that they need to engage in a bizarre re-write. This new sex orientated version has some very weird plot diversions, most notably a more than obvious Oedipal overtone that has no reference to the original. One can only assume that this was instigated in order to make it interesting enough for the modern culturally barren mainstream audience of 2007 or perhaps some darker personal issues on the `writers' own part?
Self-inflicted shame on all those who participated in this desecration. Valhalla might just empty it's halls on the day those responsible pass, in order to enable Beowulf and his warriors to show their appreciation face to face for the amazing CGI and ham fisted re-write that has now so odiously been attached to his memory.

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Similar categories

Video . DVD . Categories . Action & Adventure . All Action & Adventure
Video . DVD . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . Blu-ray
Video . DVD . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . 12
Video . DVD . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 2000 and later
Video . DVD . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 2
Video . DVD . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Standard Edition

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