Product Description

In the age of heroes comes the mightiest warrior of them all Beowulf. After destroying the overpowering demon Grendel he incurs the undying wrath of the beast s ruthlessly seductive mother who will use any means possible to ensure revenge. The ensuing epic battle throughout the ages immortalizing the name Beowulf. Academy Award® winner director Robert Zemeckis tells the oldest epic tale in the English language with the most modern technology advancing the cinematic forum through the magic of digitally enhanced live action. A stellar cast is led by Ray Winstone ( The Departed Sexy Beast ) in the title role. Joining him are Academy Award® winner Anthony Hopkins as the cursed King Hrothgar John Malkovich Robin Wright Penn Brendan Gleeson Crispin Glover Alison Lohman and Oscar® Winner Angelina Jolie as Grendel s mother.System Requirements:Running Time: 114 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: UNRATED UPC: 097361323145 Manufacturer No: 132314

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3546 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 114 minutes

Amazon.com
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 physicalized 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

On the DVD
The process of creating Beowulf was more interesting than the movie itself--though many of the movie's fans will be disappointed that the "making-of" featurette does not include Angelina Jolie in her skin tight motion-capture suit. We do, however, get to see Ray Winstone (who admits he has a less than heroic physique), live horses bedecked with plastic dots, a "Robo-Grendel," wire props painted fluorescent pink and orange, and a poor production assistant whose job is scooping up horse poop. Other featurettes discuss the monster design (including giving a sea monster a single eye because, apparently, cyclopean creatures have mythological street cred); how excited the filmmakers were to combine Winstone's gruff voice with a preposterously burly bod; and a brief bit discussing the original epic poem, how much director Robert Zemeckis hated it, and the various liberties the screenwriters took with it. But for anyone interested in computer animation, the most interesting extra feature may be the deleted scenes. Because they were cut long before the animation was finished, they show the process at a variety of different stages--at some points the faces don't even move, making Beowulf look like a Thunderbirds-style puppet movie. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Lame
Great visuals, but a long boring film. Bought it based off hype, won't make that mistake again.

If you can get past the strobe lights during the Grendall attack, you might like it.
At least you may find it intriguing. As an English Lit geek, I've always wanted to see Beowulf as film. I knew it would be gory, but I told my husband that he could turn it off during the attack scenes. He wanted to go into it a little further before giving up and I'm glad we did. Besides having an old classic remade into a movie, the making of it was even more impressive.
If you didn't like the actual movie, go into the extra features and see how it was made...Impressive!

Great Movie
This is a great movie, the only thing was i had to change my blu-ray players settings in order to watch the movie. I found out that the movie will not play on the 24p setting you must change it to the 60p setting in order to watch it. Other then that I would recommend this, great graphics, digitally enhanced people and good special effects made it a good buy for me.