Travis and I went and saw Beowulf the other night. We saw it in 3-D. This might have been a mistake. It's definitely an interesting movie and I really think it's worth seeing, but it's not, as some people have tried to say, the future of cinema. Hybrid movies combining animiation and live action have been around for a while-Who Framed Roger Rabbit is my all-time favorite-and they've never been much more than a gimick. Not much change here. I couldn't get over the feeling that I was on a ride at Universal Studios. I expected to be sprayed with water and surrounded by mist at various point in the movie. Having seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy, several years ago, I really don't see any reason why this movie couldn't have been made in the conventional fashion; in fact, I think it would hav been better that way. The most worthwhile aspect of the movie is the novel interepretation of the Beowulf story that it purports. Neil Gaiman-who is an unmitigated genius-and Roger Avery's screeplay took the story for some twists and turns that probably turned off a lot of other English majors, but I really found their take on the whole thing compelling. They kept some of the more important aspects of the story, like the upward spiraling nature of it, wherein the danger to Beowulf becomes more and more real, as shown in how he arms himself for the different battles, naked for Grendel, a sword for Grendel's mother, and fully armed for the dragon. Another important thing they touched on was the encroachment of Christianity into the pagan society, which is, essentially, the only reason Beowulf was ever written down in the first place, to Christianize it and convert the pagans. The way Grendel looked in the movie was really pretty awesome; I think that was the best visual representation in the movie. Also a nice little surprise seeing Alison Lohman in the movie; the animators captured all of ther freckles, which must have been some meticulous work.