I went and saw Beowulf a couple of weeks ago. I had only seen a couple of quick TV ads and didn’t realize until a couple of minutes into it that it was CG, it was that good. Now there were points where the realism broke down but I would have to say it it was a very good movie and an outstanding CGI movie. Things have definitely progressed since the CG Final Fantasy movie came out. Give them another 10 years and you will be hard pressed to tell the difference between CGI movies and live action.

Now I have never read the book Beowulf before so I cannot comment how closely they followed the original epic poem but overall it was a very good movie. I due plan to pick this up when it comes out on DVD. What I can comment on is how well they pulled off creating a movie entirely in CGI. Now when I see most animated movies I am thinking that was a good ‘animated movie’, but with Beowulf I left the theater thinking that was a good movie. That it was a CGI movie was just icing on the cake for a geek like me. Now as I said before there were a couple of points where the realism broke down, now if it was cell animated movie I would say that the characters were ‘off model’ how this happen in a CG animation I not real sure. For example a couple of times one of the characters seemed to have a very large head for his body. Also with Gerndel’s mother when we first see her is it obvious that it is Angelina Jolie but at other times not so much, and while the motion capture has improved as a tool for CGI the faces seemed somewhat stiff at times. With a bit more work I think that this movie would have been a even greater technological achievement. Now this movie is also out there in Imax 3D and I am betting that it would be even more visually stunning in one of the Imax super big screen theaters. So if you can go check it out you wont be disappointed.

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