Beowulf 2007

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Beowulf ★★★ 2007 (PG-13)

Not your father's epic poem! Director Zemeckis takes the Old English classic and turns it into both a highly stylized computergenerated swordfest and a satirical take on the lit class staple. Beowulf (Winstone) battles Grendel (Glover), gets sexy with Grendel's mom (Jolie), and fights a dragon on his way to eternal heroic glory. Purists may object to the liberties taken by writers Gaiman and Avery, but they do a good job of connecting and streamlining the source material's various storylines. While still resembling a video game, Zemeckis's second attempt at the “performance capture” digital style is a dramatic improvement over his previous attempt in the lifeless “The Polar Express.” 114m/C DVD . USD: Robert Zemeckis; W: Neil Gaiman, Roger Avary; C: Robert Presley; M: Alan Silvestri; V: Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie, Crispin Glover, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, John Malkovich, Alison Lohman.