Ric and my sister and I went to see Beowulf at the cheap theater a few weeks ago. I didn't remember a whole lot about the story except that there was a big bad creature named Grendel and a hero named Beowulf, and there were tons of mixed reviews in the media, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The story does, indeed, involve those two characters, along with Grendel's mother and a few background characters as well.

The movie actually surprised me in that I actually liked it. I heard lots of complaints about the Austin Powers-esque nudity scenes. Those really didn't bother me at all. I heard that it was corny. I thought it was fine. Honestly, it was full of action and entertained without being over-the-top, and I enjoyed myself.

I am not a huge fan of motion-capture animation. Here, it works for the most part, with the exception of animating the faces of the characters. The faces have expressions, but the eyes don't, and the emotions of the movie suffer because of that. I like that the movie took the actors' physiques and embellished them. Seeing a slimmer Ray Winstone and a curvier Angelina Jolie was fun.

Grendel was a bit of a surprise to me in appearance, but since I don't remember the details of the actual story all that well, it didn't matter so much. I have to admit that he seemed more menacing to me on paper than on the screen, though, even though I did enjoy the way he was presented in the movie. I liked that, after he had been defeated, we got to get a glimpse of his relationship with his mother. Seeing Grendel as a vulnerable child was very interesting.

I think it's especially perfect viewing for a high school class that has just finished studying excerpts from the famous poem. Sure, they might giggle at the nude scenes, but the film does an adequate job off addressing the themes of pride, temptation, honor, and more.

I this movie would be completely focused on action, but was pleasantly surprised at the mirrored stories of Beowulf and the Hrothgar, and the good balance between story, action, seriousness, and laughter. I'm glad I gave it a shot.

brendoman's blips - blippr [beta]

blippr is a nifty new site that allows you to post very brief reviews of books, games, movies, and music and share those reviews with others. It's still in private beta so I think they're still working on more features such as the ability to publish your blips to other sites such as your blog or various social profiles. I used to review movies and the like on a regular basis on this blog but I think I just got burnt out on it. Something simple like this would be cool though. If you want to give it a go, I have three invites so hit me up.