watching movies one cup at a time

A lot has been said about this movie’s use of CGI. It was made by the same people that created the Polar Express. It uses motion capture technology to digitally record an actor’s real, physical performance, and then interpret that into a computer to guide a computer generated character. So in that sense it greatly differs from films like Shrek and the Pixar films. It is much more direct attempt to mimic a “real life” depiction through computer generated animation. The people are meant to look like real people, etc. As opposed to the more “cartooney” CGI movies put out by other studios. Does it succeed? Do the digital characters look like real people? Well, it’s getting close.

The characters do sometimes look a little too much like a video game. But I didn’t really mind that. I think for this kind of story it makes complete sense to tell it in this fashion. Building massive real sets and costumes on a location somewhere would have been very expensive. Considering the fantasy aspects of the story would have to be CGI anyway, you’re already committed to using the technology to tell your story. And really it’s about the story ultimately. If it’s a good story and done well, 100% perfection in mimicking real people isn’t so important. Because the filmmakers still delivered the entertainment. CGI is just a tool, what you do with it is what matters most.

Overall the film was done quite well. It was an interesting story with interesting characters. The “monsters” of the film were great and the scenes of fighting them really captured an energetic spark. I never read the book or have seen any other versions of the Beowulf story (there are many), so I can’t compare that part of it. But as a fresh viewer, it was engaging.