The Geat Is Good, Not Great

Reviewers of the new animated Beowulf  generally agree the tech—including 3-D and motion-captured performances—is awesome, while the rest of the movie is just "pretty good." The film "springs so many pow 3-D surprises you'll think Beowulf is your own private fun house," writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. But "as far as cinematic mythology goes, this film flies only so high," Michael Phillips cautions in the Chicago Tribune.

Critics also agree that the Beowulf is so outrageous it borders on camp, although appreciation (or tolerance) for this varies. "To say the movie is over the top assumes you can see the top from here," writes Roger Ebert. And most comment on the appearance of a naked, gold-covered Angelina Jolie as Grendel's hot mom, but as ReelViews quibbles, "she has no visible nipples." (More film stories.)