I understand that when a piece of literature is translated into a movie that changes have to be made. Indeed, considering the source material it would be understandable why the director might make significant changes. In fact, it is my opinion that movies such as this should not be a page by page copy of the original, but should by the directors own vision and interpretation of the story. It may even by OK to add to the story to bring greater depth and complexity to the characters.
Overall, it doesn't matter how similar the plot is with the original poem, but how well it represents the themes of the original. Therefor, Beowulf(the movie) is probably the worst adaptation of any piece of literature ever.
The Beowulf of the poem and the Beowulf of the movie have little in common when it comes to their characteristics. In many ways, this movie was a betrayal of the original. in the original, Beowulf was a role model of Anglo-Saxon society, but in this version he was responsible for the dragon and doesn't kill Grendel's mom. the themes represented in this version are nowhere to be found in the original.
This movie is altogether not the story of Beowulf, it is a completely different movie. Robert Zemeckis took an entirely different story,and made some changes to make it sound like the poem probably so that it get more publicity.
Disreguarding the fact that its supposedly the story of Beowulf, the story wasn't that bad, though it could use room for improvement. this would probably have been a better movie had they not been trying to make it into Beowulf. The CGI is OK, but it still doesn't beat the real thing. I would have given this a 6/10 if it wasn't for the fact that they lied by naming it Beowulf, which in my opinion dishonest and Extremely disrespectful of the poem it was "based" off of.
Therefor its a 1/10
Overall, it doesn't matter how similar the plot is with the original poem, but how well it represents the themes of the original. Therefor, Beowulf(the movie) is probably the worst adaptation of any piece of literature ever.
The Beowulf of the poem and the Beowulf of the movie have little in common when it comes to their characteristics. In many ways, this movie was a betrayal of the original. in the original, Beowulf was a role model of Anglo-Saxon society, but in this version he was responsible for the dragon and doesn't kill Grendel's mom. the themes represented in this version are nowhere to be found in the original.
This movie is altogether not the story of Beowulf, it is a completely different movie. Robert Zemeckis took an entirely different story,and made some changes to make it sound like the poem probably so that it get more publicity.
Disreguarding the fact that its supposedly the story of Beowulf, the story wasn't that bad, though it could use room for improvement. this would probably have been a better movie had they not been trying to make it into Beowulf. The CGI is OK, but it still doesn't beat the real thing. I would have given this a 6/10 if it wasn't for the fact that they lied by naming it Beowulf, which in my opinion dishonest and Extremely disrespectful of the poem it was "based" off of.
Therefor its a 1/10