Beowulf: in IMAX 3D!

Looking at this poster for Beowulf (or other ads for it) might make you think that it's a shitty movie which is pointlessly computer generated, which is understandable; the CGI characters look exactly like their actor/actress counterparts and the rest of the movie is made to look like real life, why not just make it a live action film? Well, I'll tell you why. Because then Beowulf would not have been filmed in IMAX 3D. For those of you who have never experienced the future of animated cinema that is IMAX 3D, you need to see this movie in it. Even the largest skeptics of Beowulf will have to admit how absolutely amazing it looks in IMAX 3D. Just try to imagine looking at that poster, but with the sword coming out of the picture and seemingly sticking right in front of your face. Incredible! And the entire movie is like that! It was a completely unparalleled experience for me, I have never found myself so involved in a movie. I already can't wait for the next IMAX 3D movie to come out, no matter what it is. I guess I will have to go see Beowulf again in the meantime to get my fix. So basically, I probably can no longer see this movie on dvd or any other non-3D format without being disappointed by its non three-dimensional-ness.

Anyways, on to the movie itself. Of course the animation looked amazing, there is nothing I can complain about there. The plot is based on an Old English epic poem which I have never read nor do I plan to read. I don't know how closely the plot of the movie follows the story of the poem, but damn there is definitely some epic stuff in the movie. For example, there is a story/flashback in the movie in which Beowulf (the main hero, voiced/played by Ray Winstone) has an "open sea race." And as if a swimming race across an entire ocean isn't epic enough, Beowolf encounters an entire horde of gigantic sea monsters during said race. Then he kills every single one of them (using only a dagger), while continuing to race. The only reason why he ended up losing the race was because he was tempted by a mermaid after he had slain all of the sea monsters. Add the fact that this was all in IMAX 3D and you got one damn epic scene. And that's just one of them. There are plenty of other monster and dragon fights to keep you in a thorough and constant awe of this movie.

Unfortunately though, after all this epic-ness and jaw-dropping 3D animation, the end falls somewhat short. It wasn't much of a conclusion, it was actually somewhat open ended (but the possibility of a sequel is pretty much zero I would think... I can't say why though). I was hoping/expecting that the movie would go on longer, but it didn't, making the ending kind of awkward as well as disappointing.

That's my only solid complaint about Beowulf. Obviously it is not any sort of Oscar contender and was made for entertainment, not thought provocation. So don't go in expecting any of those things, but do expect to get your pants wow'ed off.