I AM... SPARTA! I mean, BEOWULF!

Took in Beowulf last night, which is pretty much only worth seeing if you're going on the IMAX 3D, otherwise, there's not enough to keep you interested, even a "digitally enhanced" Angelina Jolie. Speaking of which, there were way too many little kids to be watching a movie with so much nakedness (real and implied). I'm all for making literature exciting, but... I don't need to see butts. Don't even get me started about the painstaking detail that must be delivered to make Beowulf's butt look realistic and believable. What is the conversation that has to happen? "Hey, I need you to tape these golf balls onto your heiny so we can get some motion capture. Ok, now run away from me!"

Entertaining as it is, I would have liked it more if it played more to the "indestructible monster angle" and less of the court intrigue. The animation is still very good, to the point where you forget that it's animated, until you get to a movement where they really haven't quite got the rendering right, like whenever a character rides a horse.

Max and I were talking about what other old stories could be taken as fodder for future movies (related to but different from the "What 80s cartoons should they turn into movies next?" conversation), and this was the short list:

• Jason and the Argonauts
• Perseus and Medusa (that being said, Clash of the Titans is in the works as a remake)
• Theseus and the Minotaur
• Hercules (although this could be crippled by the TV show and Disney cartoon)
• St. George killing the Dragon
• Custer's Last Stand (I'm sure this would be borderline offensive because of its historical inaccuracy and the lionizing of Custer, but they did make The Alamo)
• The Hobbit (obvious)