Who´s in it?
Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins

What´s the plot?
Filmed entirely in motion-capture, you can see 'Beowulf' in state-of-the-art 3D!

The legendary story of the Norse hero Beowulf (Ray Winstone), the demon Grendel and his wickedly seductive mother (Angelina Jolie) adapted for the screen by bestselling novelist Neil Gaiman.

BBFC Consumer Advice
Contains moderate bloody violence and sex references.
For more information on film classification, please click here

Like so many other films, this was a case where the makers took a fantastic story and ripped the guts out of it. Anyone who has ever read Beowulf would be appalled at the liberties taken with it. Grendal the Kings son? out of a demonic mother? And why didn't they stay with the original plot of sleeping in a circle, sober, facing the windows and doors? And don't get me started on the use of Angelina Jolie....

For those who might comment that I'm looking for perfection, how would people react if James Bond was American? Or Lord of the Rings was filmed without Orcs, Ringwraiths but with Ewocs?

If anyone wants to see a better interpretation, try seeing "The 13th Warrior" with Antonio Bandras - true it has an Arab fighting with Vikings against a tribe of cannnibals, but at least it sticks closer to the plot of Beowolf than Beowolf.

Once you become accustomed to the 3D effect it is truely wonderful.Creating perspectives that if rendered in the usual way would be beautiful enough but in 3D gain so much more.One scene where the camera tracks from the hall to the monsters lair is so full of detail and surprise I had to really try to keep focussed on the story rather than the technical achievement.
And what a great retelling of the oldest of stories,the script is tight,humerous at times with some needed light relief but overall faithful to the spirt if not the word of the original.
There is violence but it is a violent tale when violence was administered directly not by bombs and guns so yes it is graphic and gory but not over the top. If your child is of a sensitive nature (and you should know) then go alone but do go.
Unlike standard animation the techniques used here allow the facial features of the actors to show clearly,except for Ray ( I'm here to kill the monsta!)Winstone who now has the body of an Olympic athlete!
A really great piece of cinema,visually stunning,terrific story well told and acted- and you get to keep the glasses!

The movie is great in many respects and earns some of its greatness just from being in 3D. Most of theatre jumped when a horseman's spear juts out from the film right into the audience's faces.

However, the violence is somewhat more than what I expected. It's not the gore that does it, but the idea of the violence that's implied. The first few scenes contain quite a scary character which is loud and pretty repulsive. A character which can tear limbs from men, pummel them into the ground and rip them into two. You do see this happening, albeit for a split second or the silhouette of it. I'm in my twenties, but it was pretty shocking for me. I would've given the film a 15 certificate.

Aside from this, the storyline is unique and interesting; the animation is excellent quality (like an even smoother Shrek), and the film length I found to be just right.