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Beowulf Animated movie

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Retold?


Heck an argument can be made that it's never really been told via cinema in the first place.

The 13th Warrior was based on Crichton's reimaging in Eaters of the Dead.

Lambert's Beowulf was only loosely related (and was terrible to boot)>

Sci-Fi Channels Beowulf was an embarassment (as are most of their original films) and again was very free with "artistic license".

Grendel, Grendel, Grendel was based on Gardner's novel.

Even Beowulf & Grendel took some serious liberties with the story.

Don't get me wrong I like some of the above translations....13th Warrior is about as fun as it gets and Vladimir Kulich is outstanding....Beowulf & Grendel is gorgeous, it was shot in Iceland with real honest to God Scandinavians in most of the rolls....but so far there hasn't been a completely faithful adaptation of the poem on the screen.

Unfortunately Gaiman's (who I love as a writer) script also deviates in a similar matter from the other films.

That doesn't mean it won't be a great film (although I have reservations about the Polar Express style animation) or that I won't enjoy it...just that it's still not quite the story I've been hoping for.
 
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Muck;897209; said:
Retold?


Heck an argument can be made that it's never really been told via cinema in the first place.

The 13th Warrior was based on Crichton's reimaging in Eaters of the Dead.

Lambert's Beowulf was only loosely related (and was terrible to boot)>

Sci-Fi Channels Beowulf was an embarassment (as are most of their original films) and again was very free with "artistic license".

Grendel, Grendel, Grendel was based on Gardner's novel.

Even Beowulf & Grendel took some serious liberties with the story.

Don't get me wrong I like some of the above translations....13th Warrior is about as fun as it gets and Vladimir Kulich is outstanding....Beowulf & Grendel is gorgeous, it was shot in Iceland with real honest to God Scandinavians in most of the rolls....but so far there hasn't been a completely faithful adaptation of the poem on the screen.

Unfortunately Gaiman's (who I love as a writer) script also deviates in a similar matter from the other films.

That doesn't mean it won't be a great film (although I have reservations about the Polar Express style animation) or that I won't enjoy it...just that it's still not quite the story I've been hoping for.
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All excellent points! I never saw Polar Express so I am not familiar with it's animation style. I was mighty mighty impressed by the near perfect photo-realistic recreation of Angelina Jolie's face. It isn't "animation" in the classic sense, as I understand the technology. It's beyond motion-capture. It's avant-garde image mapping technology.

The actors, covered in body suits with tracking dots on them, performed scenes in an empty studio; their performances were captured by a computer and used as the basis for the animation. Gaiman described the process as "the cast of Tron performing Shakespeare in the round."
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Er, my mistake
Robert Zemeckis directed the film using technology developed for such movies as Polar Express.
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If you're familiar with the term "uncanny valley" you'll have an idea of what Polar Express was like.

Damn creepy.


I've been jonesing for a good Viking movie for years. For some reason it just doesn't seem to be a genre that Hollywood can do right.

Pathfinder was utter trash.
 
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Oh8ch;898204; said:
"The Vikings" with Kirk Douglas was one of my favorite movies as a kid. It is certainly dated (1958) but worth a watch if you have never seen it.
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Was just about to mention this superb film. Great cast. Viking funeral.
Lots of action.
Also "Prince Valiant" 1954. Another superb film.

But, "The Vikings" just for the heart wrenching Viking funeral! Wow!
 
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Taosman;898200; said:
Pick up a DVD of "The Long Ships" with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier.
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Already own it.

Oh8ch;898204; said:
"The Vikings" with Kirk Douglas was one of my favorite movies as a kid. It is certainly dated (1958) but worth a watch if you have never seen it.
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I have a copy of it as well. Ernest Borgnine cracks me up.


I've been waiting for something modern to be done, taking advantage of the visual advances of the past forty years (even if their horses were way too tall. Another point for Beowulf & Grendel. :wink: ).

Unfortunately Jackson's Rohirrim are probably the closest we've had.
 
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Has anyone seen this one?

BEOWULF and GRENDEL Official Movie Website

Thoughts, comments, reviews?

Speaking of Viking funerals, sort of, a very good friend died in January from cancer. His family had a regular church/funeral home service for him and then the rest of us had a memorial on the beach in SD. We built a round "tub boat" out of a giant wire cable spindle, enclosed it with wood paneling, tacked it all down with metal wood tacks, filled the spaces with stryrofoam, waterproofed the cracks, and painted it.
During the beach memorial, as we toasted him and talked about him and laughed with im, people would come up and put things in the boat. Things that had belonged to him(the boots he rarely took off. Duplicates of items he had in his life(3 foot star wars action figures!) Flowers, notes, his favorite beer, etc.
Two friends suited up in wetsuits and they carried the tub boat to the water line. Those not involved in this part were all standing up on a sand ridge, spread out in a line. Carrying poles were slid home in the brackets attached to the boat, and the boat was set afire and carried out into the ocean beyond the wave line. There it floated for 5 minutes, kept in place by our intrepid suited divers.




The boat was then brought back in, still in flames, and 4 others, chosen before hand, each took turns carrying the boat back to the beach pit where it remained until it was charred remains.






Those who chose then firewalked or firejumped, we toasted our friend one more time, and proceeded to drink ourselves silly. He would have loved it!
 
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OregonBuckeye;996618; said:
This movie looks like a complete rip-off of 300. Anyone see it?
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I watched it last night on IMAX. Got to the theatre excruciatingly late so had to sit in the very first row. Not a pleasant experience normally but when the movie is also 3D animated, requiring the use of 3D glasses, it made it one of the worst movie experiences in a long time. However, that said, teh movie is worth watching.

The script is a bit cliche, lots of "I am BEOWULF!" which I am sure will be a running jokie on the internet alongside the "This is SPARTA!" photoshops. But the movie was gory, lots of nice swooping animations,really nice landscapes, Grendel was hideous yet pitiful and his mother was glidingly evil. The son of Beowulf turns out to be an incredible example of dragony goodness.

The animation, from what I could tell of it peering up noses and feeling as though I were a fly on Beowulf's face was amazing. I have to go back and sit further back so I can more properly assess it now that I have seen the how the story was handled. Gaiman's script added much in the way of motivation that is not originally in the story, as expected.

I have to go back and read the original now, however. There were quite a few things tht didn't sit right. However, for those not expecting a faithful rendition, or those that don't know the original tale, it is fun. At teh beginning of the movie we saw rows and rows of people with kids. By the middle, many of those rows were empty. PG13 doesn't mean it won't be scary but I'm guessing those parents had no idea what the story was and watching Grendel eat people probably wasn't a good thing for the kiddies.

It's not a family movie folks. Duh. :biggrin:
 
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