Beowulf
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: November 16, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
13
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Zemeckis springs so many pow 3-D surprises you'll think Beowulf is your own private fun house. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Beowulf is a solemnly gorgeous, at times borderline stolid piece of Tolkien-with-a-joystick mythology. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
For the record, it's truly puzzling that this film has been rated PG-13; it's much stronger than that. The monsters of "Beowulf" have haunted human imagination for more than a millennium; the ones in this film will easily provoke a few nightmares. Read full review
80
EmpireTom Ambrose
It’s not a reinvention of the wheel, but in 3D this is an astonishing experience that borders on ‘must-see’, and raises the bar for what James Cameron is planning with Avatar. And you’ll be glad to know that the creepy dead eyes thing has been fixed. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
It's got power and depth, and two kings whose greatness is diluted by hubris, and a thrilling dragon fight, and the demon Grendel as a tortured outcast, and a naked monster who looks a lot like Angelina Jolie. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Highly entertaining - but far from classic. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Zemeckis has converted the epic poem about the warrior who slays the monster Grendel into a species of computer game. He employs the same motion-capture technology that he first used in "The Polar Express," to slightly better effect. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
We are not looking at flesh-and-blood actors but special effects that look uncannily convincing, even though I am reasonably certain that Angelina Jolie does not have spike-heeled feet. That's right: feet, not shoes. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Beowulf couldn't be less faithful to the original epic poem, and that's actually a good thing for moviegoers. It's a lot more fun than the mythic adventure most of us read in school. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Regardless of the medium, this is an effectively brutal story of swords, sorcery, demons, and heroes, with an Oedipal hint or two thrown in for flavor. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Not all of it works - and not all of it works the way the target audience of jacked-up young males might want it to - but the movie is hugely provocative fun, and I'm pretty sure that's on purpose. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Director Robert Zemeckis not only deploys 21st century movie technology at its finest to turn the heroic poem into a vibrant, nerve-tingling piece of pop culture, but his film actually makes sense of Beowulf. In Zemeckis' hands, it's an intriguing look at a hero as a flawed human being. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyLuke Y. Thompson
Beowulf may ultimately be viewed as a failure, but it’s a fascinating one. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The story works, but I wish they'd teach these avatars to act. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Beowulf deserves to be taken semiseriously; its eye candy is mixed with narrative fiber and dramatic protein. But it begs to be taken frivolously. Effects have grown so exciting in the realm of the third dimension that you just sit there all agog behind your polarizing glasses. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderStaff (Not credited)
The bolder stroke comes from screenwriters Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction) and Neil Gaiman (the graphic novel Sandman), who’ve turned the arthritic legend into sort of an Arthur Miller play in chain mail. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
Could call Zemeckis subtle; but his style Well suits the poem's crude and earthy brawn. Comic-Con geeks and cinephiles alike Will gape at the resplendent imagery (But don ye specs, and see it in 3-D). Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Although this version of Beowulf (the script, ricocheting between thrilling, heroic, and hilarious, is by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary) does take some liberties with certain heretofore undreamed of aspects of parentage, it's as faithful to the extant version as it needs to be. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
People's eyes still look as glassy and dull as a taxidermized possum's. But if you're going to Beowulf to experience the sweeping passions that only real eyes can convey, you're missing the point. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
If the arrival of Beowulf is any indication, movie actors will soon all be replaced by lifelike, digitally animated facsimiles. The good news is that some of them might still sound like John Malkovich. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
As dazzling a feast for the eyes as the hungriest eyes can take. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Beowulf is many things, but boring isn't one of them. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin Chang
For all its visual sweep and propulsively violent action, this bloodthirsty rendition of the Old English epic can't overcome the disadvantage of being enacted by digital waxworks rather than flesh-and-blood Danes and demons. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Beowulf is all right as far as it goes, and it goes pretty far for a PG-13 rating: Dismemberment, “300”-style blood globules comin’ atcha, and a digitally futzed and, for all practical purposes, completely naked!!! Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Zemeckis, who blazed trails mixing live-action with animation in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," blazes not even a footpath here. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The 3-D is necessary to the film only in so far as it keeps your eyes engaged when your mind starts to wander. Stripped of much of the original poem’s language, its cadences, deep history and context, this film version of Beowulf doesn’t offer much beyond 3-D oohs and ahs, sword clanging and a nicely conceived dragon, which probably explains why Mr. Zemeckis and his collaborators have tried to sex it up with Ms. Jolie, among other comic-book flourishes. Read full review
50
PremiereGlenn Kenny
I like a good flying, fire-breathing dragon as much as the next fellow. Beowulf's excesses, though, are such that the film ought to carry the subtitle …But This Is Ridiculous. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
First and foremost a showcase for the latest developments in motion-capture and 3-D technology. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
As for Beowulf itself, it's all about the visuals, which means that as soon as the novelty of 3-D wears off, the experience has been had. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Ten years from now, Beowulf may look like the groundbreaking project that helped kill live-action movies, but for the moment, its uncomfortable jokes and fakey rendering of life leave it wedged firmly in the uncanny valley. (Insert your own joke about Jolie's astonishing animated anatomy here.) Read full review
42
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Owing more to the sword-and-sex-play fantasies of 12-year-olds than the traditions of Old English poetry, Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf will allow adolescents to have their cheesecake - and beefcake - and eat it, too. Read full review
40
Film ThreatJamie Tipps
Certainly, modern interpretations should add their own spin to an ancient tale, but in the hands of director Robert Zemeckis, Beowulf becomes... silly. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Beowulf appears so cartoony, in fact, that the academy just put it on the short list of films to be considered for the Oscar in feature animation. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Ambitious, overbearing and hollow; it goes overboard to impress, yet it never feels truly inventive or imaginative. At best, it achieves a level of clumsy camp. Read full review
40
NewsweekDavid Ansen
The most interesting thing about Beowulf, alas, is its technology. It's the work of a man who has fallen in love with his toys, but I miss the wicked satirist who made "Used Cars." And the truth is the motion capture in Beowulf comes across as an unsatisfying compromise between animation and live action. Read full review
More From This Movie

59 Critic Reviews

6.3 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 82 The Northman
2 81 Everything Everywhere All at Once
3 78 X
4 72 7 Days
5 72 Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL