Beowulf trailer review

OK, I just watched the trailer (or teaser trailer?) for Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, and man, what a let down. The story has so much promise, so why bog it down with silly special effects? I've complained about his fascination with the live-action CGI capture technology he uses (The Polar Express was like a horror movie in disguise), but it has really got to stop.

The dialogue sounds great, and the marketing department has done a good job creating an effective trailer from what they have to work with. Everything about the trailer works, except, for the fact, that movie looks completely fake. Beowulf should be a gritty action-drama, not a colorful film full of CGI effect. The graphics take away the entire dramatic effect - I wonder if the screenwriter, when he was penning the script, knew that the movie was going to be whored to the computers like this.

You can watch the trailer by visiting my Beowfulf details page.

Mr. Zemeckis: Stop using motion-capture technology!

Dear Mr. Robert Zemeckis,

Your motion-capture technology binge has got to stop. It's a novel concept, one that may work at some point if done right, or if used in a horror movie, but as is, it just doesn't work. Take one of your latest pictures, The Polar Express. The concept was interesting and the movie was not horrific by any stretch of the imagination, but the special effects were just creepy. It reminded me of House of Wax, where Vincent Price killed real people and put wax over them. The Polar Express was a kid's movie, and it was just plain scary thanks to your motion-capture techniques.

You have Beowulf coming up soon. A classic. A movie that could be great - if it were done with real actors, and not real actors painted over. There will come a time when this will work, but why destroy a classic with such gimmicks?

And now, I've heard, you've cast Jim Carrey (according to Empire Online) to star in A Christmas Carol, another family film that will end up looking more like a horror movie, especially with Carrey's stretchy face now completely unrestrained by the limits of the real world.

Stop now. Please. Before you hurt someone.

Sincerely,
Erik Samdahl