The film's opening is spectacular, perfectly capturing the brutal nature of Beowulf's era. It also serves as a splendid introduction to the visual and audio extravaganza that Zemeckis has crafted: the animation is top-notch, the sound effects spot-on and the background music superb.Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a young hero from distant lands, leads a band of his fellow Geats to Hrothgar's cursed mead-hall and pledges to kill the dreadful beast. His vainglorious accounts of past monsters slain do little to ease the worries of local townsfolk, who eye him with distrust and scepticism.
Beowulf provides us a glimpse of the near limitless possibilities of animation in films. The characters scratch their scraggly beards in deep thought. Upon closer examination, the beards are matted down with grime, speckled with food and dampened with mead. Tears brim up in their eyes before realistically rolling down dirt-smeared cheeks. It's eerily realistic.