Thursday, November 29, 2007

Beowulf

I've seen the future of animation and the future is 3D motion capture. Beowulf is a movie you simply have to see in a cinema screen showing it in 3D. Even as a live action or a simple animation this would have been an entertaining night out. I like the way they expand on the Beowulf legend. The idea that the story passed down through history is the public version of the truth and the people involved try to maintain the image is a nice way of taking a well known story and adding to it without destroying the core of the original.

But throw in the 3D animation and it becomes a dead cert for the animated Oscar. I'd even hope they give a nomination to Brendan Gleeson for best supporting actor. That would be a first, an animated character getting an Oscar but the motion capture on his character is nearly perfect especially his last scene which shows just how powerful the technology can be. In a few years they will be able to create animated characters that look more lifelike than some of the current set of A list actors.

Strangely it is the animation of Beowulf and the Queen, two of the main characters, that is lacking sometimes. Their faces tend to be a bit plastic and lifeless, especially the Queens. Also the crowd scenes are a little Shrekish at times, who would have thought Shrek could be used as an example of poor animation. Still this was one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in ages and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do next with this technology. I'm only sorry the DVD version probably wont be 3D.

2 comments:

nicola-t said...

Did you see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D there recently... it was great stuff... an old classic brought to life... not that it wasn't lively to begin with!

Declan said...

Nope unfortunately not. Would you believe I've never seen The Nightmare Before Christmas :-)