| Overall Grade: |
B |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
B- |
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|
| Direction: |
B+ |
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|
| Visuals: |
A |
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B Grade Literature Lesson
by bck (movies profile)
Feb 10, 2008
96
of
133 people found this review helpful
While most would regard this movie as an animated feature, to me, this is no more an animated feature than Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is one, or even the Richard Linklater efforts, Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. The characters movements aren’t animated by an animator but captured into an environment. While Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly have animators drawing directly over each frame (an updated version of rotoscoping), Beowulf uses the current fad of Motion Capture (MoCap for short within the industry), which director Zemeckis employed in The Polar Express and (to a certain extent) Monster House, which he also produced. The same technology was used to give the penguins in Happy Feet proper dance moves.
By using this technology, directors are able to have far more control on how the characters should move and, in essence, act within a given environment. They can also place the camera anywhere and move it any way they want to without costly reshoots, concerns about safety in stunts or environmental concerns and actor concerns.
The movie, written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery, adapts the legendary and lengthy poem (over 1000 lines) that tells the tale of Beowulf and his battle with the creature, Grendel, as well as the consequences that follow. The stars lend their voice and facial appearances, which is rendered in a 3-D environment so realistic that it almost looks like the actors were there themselves. Ray Winstone in particular looks far better than in real life, like his old Will Scarlett (from the Robin of Sherwood TV series over 20 years ago) got beefed up even more and grew almost a foot taller. Angelina Jolie appears far more toned and with a tail, probably surpassing her real life figure as well. So, there is no real way to determine the quality of any of the actor’s performances here as the characters in the movie have different body actors (who wear those suits for Motion Capture).
While Winstone does growl and bellow with the best of them (specifically recalling Gerard Butler in 300), the only real standout would be Grendel itself, thanks to a remarkable vocal performance by Crispin Glover coupled with a truly grotesque design of a creature that is both horrifying and sympathetic. It probably works best simply because it is the least realistically realized creature in the film (the other being a magnificent dragon). We could also have done with a bit more of the sea monsters. The rest of the human characters suffer from the usual stiffness in movement that seem to plague motion captured humans. Their movements can be smooth at times but there’s an oddness to it at the same time, which makes them look stiff.
The hyper-real 3-D environment attempts to create 3-D visual effect (more for IMAX) and succeeds a fair bit, throwing the viewers into the middle of the scene or setting. The surround sound enhances the effect as well with solid results, and there are many opportunities for the movie to show off its technological advancements. The battle scenes are brutal visceral experiences almost (but not quite) on par with the savagery that was featured in a similar 300 earlier this year.
The most eye-catching aspect of the movie is the production design of Doug Chiang and art direction by Greg Papalia that is just luscious eye candy. The environments and sets, with their lighting, are just amazingly rich in detail. If everything is created within the computer, how does a cinematographer work in this, or are those sets and scenery digitized reality (like in the Disney animated feature Dinosaur)? After all, the credits do include a digital set designer as well as a normal set designer.
In all, it is a rousing adapted adventure that is quite a cinematic experience. The few highlights and gorgeous imagery make up for what would have been regarded as stilted performances if it weren’t a motion captured movie. |
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