A Few Words About A few words about...™ Beowulf -- in HD (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

There is an obvious linear path from Gertie to Oswald and Snow White to the wonders of Pixar.

Paramount's Beowulf takes animation, and specifically digital animation to the next level in the artistry of animated cinema.

Capturing live action and digitizing it for effect has been around for a number of years, but Beowulf is something else, and those who have seen it screened in 3-D, or as the new DVD exists, in 2-D will attest to that.

I doubt that anyone needs background here, so I'll stick to a very few words.

More aren't necessary.

When one considers those rare High definition discs that are acknowledged as "reference" quality, Beowulf takes a place as what can be justifiably considered a "standard" against which others must now be judged.

A single word about the visual and sonic quality of Paramount's new HD DVD of Beowulf?

Perfect!

Simply Perfect.

And Very Highly Recommended.

This is a disc that must be a part of any serious home video library.

RAH

 

[FrankT]

I am really looking forward to seeing this.

 

[RickER]

And here is hoping it will be on Blu-ray soon! Thanks for the thoughts, as always Mr. Harris. This will be a DVD rental for now, until it comes out on Blu!

 

[PaulDA]

I saw this in 3-D (though I was a bit sceptical before it started). If the 2-D version is even half as impressive, I will be adding this to my collection.

 

[Neil Joseph]

I just finished watching this just a few minutes ago. Some of the facial closeups were very real looking indeed. Great audio too.

 

[Robert Harris]

I neglected to mention that the disc of extras is a worthy addition, and not just filler.

RAH

 

[Yumbo]

Anyone else notice the new web enabled % status download progress?

Letting it load (slow though) before I watch the movie.
Well, cancelled and witnessed an unusually entertaining production.

Picture is nice.
Sound was decent.

Score was curiously cool. Interesting use of songs.
The PIP was astounding to see.

I tried resuming the web download, but the usual error came up. I then re-inserted and the % indicator did not show again.

I am guessing the unrated bits etc. was the seemingly adult content at the beginning party. Amusing to say the least.

The 3-D aspects were obvious, with the covering angles, lol.

Recommended!

 

[Jim_K]

Well I had the HD DVD in my Netflix queue but I was sent the SD DVD instead. I guess this missed the cutoff of when Netflix officially dropped new HD DVD releases.

Even upconverted this looked pretty good, it must really be amazing in HD. As for the story even though it severely deviates from the classic source material (which I'm very familiar with) I enjoyed it much better than I expected too. As soon as it ended I wanted to watch it again but in HD.

I haven't bought a title in the format since December but if I can find it for the right price I'm very tempted to make this my last HD DVD purchase instead of waiting for a BD version.

 

[Ric Easton]

I managed to pick this up (previously viewed... but not) at a Hollywood Video with a 2 for 1 coupon. Total cost of the HD-DVD... 7.50!

Watched it last night and enjoyed it immensely. The visuals were stunning and at times I'd forget I was watching CGI.

Wish there was a shot of Angelina Jollie with them sensors stuck on her though. That must have been one tight body suit!

 

[PerryD]

I know this movie was an unrated cut of a violent PG-13 movie, but holy-cow this was much much more violent and bloody than any R rated movie I've seen this past year, including several horror films. Definitely do not allow young kids to watch this one.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Yeah, it's kind of the ultimate ironic example of "you can get away with a lot more in animation than you can in live action."

 

[David_B_K]

I picked it up in HD from Amazon during a brief buying window in which it was $21.99. I originally had planned to merely rent the HD disc from Blockbuster Online, but with so much enthusiastic word of mouth recommendations, I went ahead and bought it.

I was quite impressed. Not only with the reference quality HD presentation, but with the film as whole. I kept thinking as I was watching it how I liked the guy playing Beowulf, but had to keep reminding myself that the "actor" was not real. Brenden Gleason particularly looked like the real thing.

The deviations from the original story actually helped, IMO, as it tied the two halves of the film together. The featurettes are all good, and the PIP showing the motion capture vs. the final film is quite interesting. I'll be watching it again soon. My final New HD release is one of the most impressive ever.

 

[RolandL]

I wonder when this title and others that were presented in 3-D will be coming out in 3-D on DVD? We now have Samsung and Mitsubishi HDTV's capable (with PC software) of flicker-free 3-D.

 

[Steven Simon]

Watched the HD Version today... I really liked the film, and High Def was amazing!!! Very kool!!

 

[Jari K]

This now out in Blu-ray at least in the UK (from Warner):
Amazon.co.uk: Beowulf [Blu-ray] [2007]: Ray Winstone,Angelina Jolie,Anthony Hopkins,Robin Wright Penn,Brendan Gleeson,Robert Zemeckis: DVD

"Directors cut - featuring extended footage
Reading Between The Lines: The Making of Beowulf
The Origins of Beowulf
Beowulf's Beast of Burden
Art of Beowulf
Deleted Scenes"
(extras taken from the online-store site)

 

[EnricoE]

got the blu-ray today and boy, what a treat. quality is top notch.

the film also has english dolby true-hd!

 

[Jari K]

Could you give the full specs? Same extras as in the HD DVD?

 

[EnricoE]

here you go

Beowulf Blu-ray - German Release (Warner Bros Home Entertainment - Director's Cut)

Video

VC-1 1080p 24fps 2.40:1

Audio

English Dolby True-HD
Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, French, German, Italian
English descriptive narration

Subtitles

German, Chinese, English (for the hard of hearing), French, Finish, Dutch, Italian, Korean, Norvégien, Portuguese, Swedish and Spanish

Extras

A Heroes Journey: The Making of Beowulf (25:09)
Beowulf: Mapping The Journey (22:02)
Individual Parts of "Mapping the Journey"

The Volume (2:27)
T Pose Prep (2:00)
What is E.O.G. (2:18)
Lay Of The Land (2:05)
Givin' Props (2:14)
Scanners (1:48)
Stunts And Rigs (2:16)
Plan Of Attack (2:17)
Fight Me (2:32)
Baby, It's Cold Inside (1:59)

The Origins Of Beowulf (5:13)
The Art Of Beowulf (5:25)
Beast Of Burden - Designing The Creatures Of Beowulf (6:56)
Creating The Ultimate Beowulf (1:59)
Additional Footage (11:31)

All Extras are presented in HighDef (VC-1 Encoded) and Dolby 5.1.

sadly no trailer was added :frowning: