Beowulf - in 2D

Debbie and I had a busy weekend which included seeing the CG Beowulf movie on the big screen. Sadly we were about twenty minutes late for the 3D version - which is to say we arrived just as the slides would have been starting, but the queue was at least twenty minutes long. We decided to see it in 2D rather than wait around for a later session. I enjoyed watching it, although I was a littler nervous after the first couple of minutes, as the ratio of gimmicky shots that would look good in 3D to normal visual story-telling was not one which favoured the regular type cinema. It did calm down after that, and while there were a lot of shots which went on longer than they might otherwise have done to allow for cool 3D bits, and some obvious 3D-friendly shots, it was quite a watchable film in 2D. There was fighting, bragging, sleaze-which-failed-to-titilate, a cool dragon, and Angelina Jolie as an unconvincing CG barbie doll. There were odd changes to the storyline and characters, some with no pay-off. There were spiky things pointing straight out at the audience, presumably looking cool in 3D. Without going into detail, I'd say it was an enjoyable film, and if you don't know too much about the story of Beowulf you'll probably be happy to sit throught it, though there are a few moments where you might justifiably mutter *wtf!?!*, as characters make inexplicable decisions or villains act randomly. One of the oddest things was that the biggest changes looked like they had been made to give the story a theme or moral that modern audiences could connect with, but then the film failed to deliver any coherent pay-off to those changes. I wonder if bits were cut out?