2008 Woodie Awards
Give me a 'B!' Give me an '-eowulf!' What's that spell? 'Awesome!'
Christopher Petterson
Issue date: 11/28/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
It's been a banner year for visual filmmaking. First "300" showed us that every frame of a film could stand alone as a work of art, and now "Beowulf" has made animated films bad-ass again. In case you were curious, the last truly bad-ass animated film was "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm."
Beowulf is a larger-than-life hero who arrives to destroy a monster plaguing a kingdom. He succeeds, only to incur the wrath of the beast's ruthlessly seductive mother. The film takes liberties from the source material, as all films do, but obviously this is to better serve the movie as just that: a movie. The essential elements are all still there: Monster, hero, mead, gore, more mead, a bit more gore, and of course naked people.
Yes folks, for Beowulf's first fight, he takes on the monster Grendel completely in the nude. Don't ask me why. What ensues is something between an epic monster battle and some kind of Austin Powers-style "hide the penis gag" scene. It works, it's just that it's… unexpected, is all.
What I couldn't shake was the feeling that director Robert Zemeckis and writer Neil Gaiman were somehow being satirical. I mean, the movie has its share of intended jokes, but I and the others I saw the film with were laughing at some things that no one else in the audience seemed to pick up on. Like the fact that when Angelina Jolie rises up out of the water looking like some kind of incredibly hot Academy Award, she's got stilettos coming out of her heel. She's not wearing shoes, mind you, but has high-heeled feet. I'll let you decide for yourselves what that's supposed to mean.
But everything else about the film is incredibly engaging. I've already said it looks fantastic, and it's delightfully violent for a PG-13 film. I suspect they were a little lenient with the rating considering, well, it's just not real. Dismemberment, impalings, torsos being severed from pelvises, skulls crushed and then eaten; don't worry, it's all in good fun.
But it also sounds fantastic. The part of Beowulf is knocked out of the park by Ray Winstone (who probably doesn't actually have six-pack abs;) And Jolie, as well as Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, and John Malkovich (!) all give grade A performances. However, my strongest commendation goes to Crispin Glover, who is so effectively disturbing as Grendel that it isn't just his appearance that will make you uncomfortable watching him.
So, I hope none of you were planning on skipping out on Beowulf just because it was animated, because I have news for you: this is about as far from a kid's movie as you can get. Even aside from all the dudity (That's short for "dude-nudity") and violence, there still remains something of a classical sophistication about it. Perhaps it's the fact that it's based on one of the most famous "required reading for all students" books of all time. Whatever the reason, you will walk out of this one feeling immensely satisfied.
Okay, I do have to spoil for you my favorite line in the picture: a drunken warrior is trying to get a little attention from one of the local wenches, who's refusing his attempts by continuing to talk about the monster Grendel, saying, "You can't hear the demon coming!" To which this Cadillac of men replies, "Oh, but you'll hear me."
True poetry. Enjoy your time at the movies, kids.
Beowulf is a larger-than-life hero who arrives to destroy a monster plaguing a kingdom. He succeeds, only to incur the wrath of the beast's ruthlessly seductive mother. The film takes liberties from the source material, as all films do, but obviously this is to better serve the movie as just that: a movie. The essential elements are all still there: Monster, hero, mead, gore, more mead, a bit more gore, and of course naked people.
Yes folks, for Beowulf's first fight, he takes on the monster Grendel completely in the nude. Don't ask me why. What ensues is something between an epic monster battle and some kind of Austin Powers-style "hide the penis gag" scene. It works, it's just that it's… unexpected, is all.
What I couldn't shake was the feeling that director Robert Zemeckis and writer Neil Gaiman were somehow being satirical. I mean, the movie has its share of intended jokes, but I and the others I saw the film with were laughing at some things that no one else in the audience seemed to pick up on. Like the fact that when Angelina Jolie rises up out of the water looking like some kind of incredibly hot Academy Award, she's got stilettos coming out of her heel. She's not wearing shoes, mind you, but has high-heeled feet. I'll let you decide for yourselves what that's supposed to mean.
But everything else about the film is incredibly engaging. I've already said it looks fantastic, and it's delightfully violent for a PG-13 film. I suspect they were a little lenient with the rating considering, well, it's just not real. Dismemberment, impalings, torsos being severed from pelvises, skulls crushed and then eaten; don't worry, it's all in good fun.
But it also sounds fantastic. The part of Beowulf is knocked out of the park by Ray Winstone (who probably doesn't actually have six-pack abs;) And Jolie, as well as Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, and John Malkovich (!) all give grade A performances. However, my strongest commendation goes to Crispin Glover, who is so effectively disturbing as Grendel that it isn't just his appearance that will make you uncomfortable watching him.
So, I hope none of you were planning on skipping out on Beowulf just because it was animated, because I have news for you: this is about as far from a kid's movie as you can get. Even aside from all the dudity (That's short for "dude-nudity") and violence, there still remains something of a classical sophistication about it. Perhaps it's the fact that it's based on one of the most famous "required reading for all students" books of all time. Whatever the reason, you will walk out of this one feeling immensely satisfied.
Okay, I do have to spoil for you my favorite line in the picture: a drunken warrior is trying to get a little attention from one of the local wenches, who's refusing his attempts by continuing to talk about the monster Grendel, saying, "You can't hear the demon coming!" To which this Cadillac of men replies, "Oh, but you'll hear me."
True poetry. Enjoy your time at the movies, kids.
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