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Reviews Counted:185
Fresh:131
Rotten:54
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: Featuring groundbreaking animation, stunning visuals, and a talented cast, Beowulf has in spades what more faithful book adaptations forget to bring: pure cinematic entertainment.
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $82,161,969
Synopsis: Director Robert Zemeckis mines the epic Old English poem for his latest action adventure to feature performance capture animation. The medieval tale was adapted for the screen by Neil Gaiman and... [More]
Starring: Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn
Director: Robert Zemeckis
When the film is allowed to cut free from recreating reality, most obviously in its depiction of Grendel, the results are terrifying to behold and will most likely serve as nightmare fuel for viewers of all ages for a long time to come.
as muddled as watching a RealD presentation without the glasses on.
One of the oldest surviving stories is retold through one of the most modern of technologies in a thrilling 3-D adventure from director Robert Zemeckis.
As envisioned by director Robert Zemeckis, Beowulf is a sight to behold: The landscape and visuals are powerfully sweeping, the action sequences exhilarating and kinetic.
Top CriticThis incredibly beautiful version of the classic tale is going to knock your socks off.
If you want to understand what the pressure of Hollywood does to talent, if you want to experience where the movie business is heading in a big way, this benighted but likely remunerative film is the place to start.
Top CriticBeowulf is ambitious, overbearing and hollow; it goes overboard to impress, yet it never feels truly inventive or imaginative.
All the digital bells and whistles in the world can't conceal how hollow the movie is at its core or make us forget about its storytelling and dialogue deficiencies.
The adaptation replaces the two-dimensional characters of the epic poem with more human, nuanced individuals.
You don’t need to wait for Angelina Jolie to rise from the vaporous depths naked to know that this Beowulf isn’t your high school teacher’s Old English epic poem.
Top CriticBeowulf is being released in standard 2-D and a non-Imax 3-D version, neither of which I've seen, and neither of which I would recommend as long as there is an opportunity for the sensory overload of Imax 3-D.
A thrilling visit to an alien time and place, devoid of a single dull moment and spiked with something interesting, unexpected or viscerally gripping in virtually every frame.
Regardless of the medium, this is an effectively brutal story of swords, sorcery, demons, and heroes, with an Oedipal hint or two thrown in for flavor.
A bulked-up and dumbed-down 3-D screen version of the Old English epic that is aimed at the shiver-me and scare-me crowd.
Am I the only one who suspects that the intention of director Robert Zemeckis and writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary was satirical?
Top CriticThe trouble is that the film's look trumps all.
Don't let Paramount's atrocious marketing fool you, Beowulf is a film of great surprise and heart-stopping visual gusto. It also reaffirms Robert Zemeckis's place as a brilliant cinematic architect, still capable of eliciting eye-watering awe.
Beowulf aspires to epic realm of 300 and the fantasy of Lord of the Rings but falls short of both. But it's an intriguing novelty act with a few stirring scenes.
Violent animated adventure is no kiddie movie.
To the shock of cynics in the audience waiting for this film fantasy to be lame, Beowulf turns out to be exciting, fun and occasionally breathtaking. No question it's a popcorn flick, but it's cheesy only when it chooses to be.
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