Unofficial Tex Murphy

I did not know ahead of time that the new movie Beowulf was completely computer generated. I expected the dragons and monsters and some of the scenery to be CGI, but I didn't know the actors were all computer generated, too.

Many times, it was very hard to tell if you were looking at a real actor or a computer generated one. It was fairly easy to tell that the female characters were CGI. I think that is because the female characters always had smooth skin that looked too perfect. The male characters, however, had quite a bit of texture and character in their skins, and they looked *real*. For the male characters, the main give away was the hands. I'm not sure if it was the finger motions or if it was just that the skin just didn't wrinkle enough at the knuckles.

The movie was pretty cool, but I found myself constantly distracted by marveling at the technical accomplishments. It was absolutely amazing.

We ventured into Seattle to watch it in Digital 3D. That MADE the movie. I knew it was all CGI, but what I didn't know was that the movie was not meant at all for the younger crowd. Adult situations, graphic and bloody violence, older teens and up.

"How about a quick gobble then?" Yikes!

The effects, including the dragon, made it visually a stunning movie. Plotwise, it was decent. Voice acting was very good overall. Hi Buttercup!!

I strongly suggest going out your way to see this in either Imax 3D or Digital 3D. I'm curious if they will release it on DVD in a 3D version. I might break down and get the way too big plasma TV for it if they do.