I never thought I’d hear the words “Beowulf ... in 3D!” That inaccessible, 1,300-year-old epic poem that is regularly forced upon helpless high school students is now in 3D? What’s next? The Canterbury Tales ... in 3D?
Source material is only one thing Robert Zemeckis’ latest film has going against it. It’s also a cartoon for grown-ups—a cartoon with cutting-edge, near-photorealistic motion-capture animation, but that just makes it look like a really sleek video-game cut-scene, which will doubtless serve to alienate even more adult viewers. Already, I’ve heard murmurs along the lines of, “Why didn’t they just film it with real actors?”
To those who say such things, I can only suggest this: Get over it. Beowulf’s digital animation is a stylistic choice, and it doesn’t make the film soulless any more than stop-motion animation makes The Nightmare Before Christmas soulless or classical animation makes Pinocchio soulless. If anything, the choice to go all-digital has freed Zemeckis to create some of the most spectacular action sequences ever put to film.
Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary have taken an ancient narrative that was as base as “monster shows up, hero kills monster, repeat,” and with a little creative license, have crafted an epic tale that functions as an ode to mythological hubris. The story now has ironies that any modern audience can appreciate and snappy one-liners worthy of any action-packed popcorn movie.
The motion-capture technique has preserved all of the subtle, human nuances in the performances that might have been overlooked in a drawn-from-scratch approach, and as a result, it’s easy to forget that you’re watching a cartoon (for those who are willing to get over it). But action is the main attraction, and Beowulf is relentlessly brutal in this regard. Arms are ripped off, groins are stabbed (repeatedly), and the monster Grendel is R-rated gore incarnate (in a film that has been inexplicably allowed to retain a PG-13 rating).
The action sequences are blocked out to make excellent use of 3D, with branches, arrows, dragons and severed limbs regularly flying at the camera. Naysayers will doubtless complain that, because of the animation, these sequences unfold like video games that you watch rather than play—a common but stupid critic complaint. (Can’t any action scene be accused of that?) But I found the action enthralling, and only noticed the technology behind it long enough to be awed by it. If Zemeckis does ever make The Canterbury Tales in 3D, I’ll be first in line.
Beowulf
****
Voices of Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Rated PG-13
Opens Friday