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Beowulf | 2007 | PG-13 | - 6.8.4

CGI animated feature based on the Norse epic poem about the hero who saved a Danish kingdom from a monstrous creature, which was killing and terrifying the people: After dispatching the creature, Beowulf becomes the new king, but the creature's ruthless and seductive mother will use any means to ensure revenge. With the voices of Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson and Angelina Jolie. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. [1:53]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - A female creature rises out of the water in front of a man: her form is revealed and lightly veiled by what looks like gold paint, but breasts and nipples are clearly visible, as well as buttocks, her abdomen and legs (the camera lingers as she rises); the same gilded female creature rises out of the water in another scene and her female form is clear but with slightly less detail than previously. A mermaid-like creature has a female form, with breasts, but has a tail; pulls a man under the sea and the man drops his dagger when the creature swims close to him.
 A man holds a woman close to him and tries to convince her to have sex with him (there is a remark made that implies that he is loud when he climaxes); she refuses, pushes him away, he asks her for oral sex and she slaps him in the face.
 A man is nude for an extended period: his bare buttocks, back, chest and legs are visible and there are a few instances where his genitals are obscured from view by objects or other characters. A man removes his clothing and armor and stands in front of a woman (she looks down below his waist, turns and runs away); he then removes his undergarment and walks nude through a hall (his bare buttocks, back, legs and chest are visible). We see two women who appear to be nude (we see their bare legs and backs and shoulders) wrapping themselves in a blanket and running away. A woman wearing a very low-cut dress leans over to scrub a table, a man watches, the woman moans suggestively with each stroke and the man makes a remark about his loins burning. A man stands up and is lightly wrapped by a toga-like drape: we see his bare leg and hip, the drape slips off his shoulder and his bare buttocks are visible. A woman's dress is laced up the front and cleavage is visible.
 A female creature speaks seductively to a man, seduces him, asks him to give her a son, they kiss and hold each other and it is implied that they have sex.
 A husband tells his wife to come to bed and that she must do her duty and give him an heir; she refuses and makes reference to his having had a sexual relationship with someone else.
 A man kisses a young woman, who's his mistress, and his wife walks past them. A female creature hovers over a dead man and kisses him.
 A man has a dream that a woman comes to him, tells him that she loves and wants him, and she sprouts pointed teeth and snarls loudly at him; the man wakes up with a start.
 A female creature appears in the sea (her bare shoulders and the tops of her breasts are visible) and tries to entice a man to join her; he stands at the water's edge and the scene ends.
 A man reaches for a woman and pulls on her arm while asking for a kiss, but she pulls away. A husband caresses his wife's cheek tenderly. A man and a woman lie together sleeping and covered with a blanket (we see her bare shoulders).
 A man talks about another man having killed his two brothers when he discovered them having carnal "knowledge" of their mother. Men talk about having sex with many women. Several men sing a song with sexual lyrics. A man makes a joke about another man's sexual partners being sheep. A man calls a hall, "a hall of fornication."

VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - A creature looks human but is enormous, with malformed features, slime covered skin, and claws instead of hands. A female creature looks human apart from her long tentacle-like tail. A flying creature looks like a dragon with large sharp teeth and enormous wings and it blows fire.
 A flying creature blows fire on a young woman on a high walkway, she dodges the flames, another woman comes to take her away, the creature continues to blow flames, then bites into the walkway trying to eat the two women, and a man who is dangling from the neck of the creature from a previous encounter, slices one of the creature's wings, the creature falls briefly, the man is nearly impaled by a flagpole, and he stabs the creature through the chest; then he tries repeatedly to stab it in the heart (we see the heart beating in its chest) but is unable to reach it and so in order to free himself and gain greater reach cuts off his own arm (we see blood and he dangles from what remains attached), manages to reach in the creature's chest, pulls out the heart with his bare hand and holds it in the air (blood drips from the still beating heart) -- the creature falls to the ground taking the man with it (we see the man lying on the shore motionless and he dies shortly thereafter).
 A creature slams a door open, grabs and throws men (one is thrown in the air and he's stabbed by his own sword in the chest), one man strikes the creature in the head with a sword (yellow goo oozes from the wound), the creature crushes the man in its hand and bites his head off (we hear crunching and chewing), another man stabs the creature between the legs several times and is then thrown, another man jumps on the creature's back and strikes it repeatedly in what looks like its ear, and the creature falls back into a fire pit, screams, gets up, and kicks the man in the face; the creature is then wrapped with a chain and tethered to two poles, and the creature's arm is crushed in a door and severed (blood spurts and we see the arm lying on the ground).
 A creature breaks into a hall where people are gathered, it throws people around the room, crushes a woman's head between its hands (we hear a crunch and see a spurt of blood), pulls the leg off a man and throws it across the room (we see blood and dangling tissue), throws a man into the air (he is impaled on a light fixture hanging from the ceiling, and we hear a crunch and blood trickles down), and the creature is struck in the back with an axe; it screams, grabs the man who struck it and tears him in half (we see the act in shadow on a wall, blood spurts on the walls and we see the two halves thrown across the room while blood and tissue are visible), a man with a sword beckons the creature, the creatures moves close to him, and then runs off screaming and bursts into a blue light.
 A flying creature with a mouth full of large, sharp teeth blows fire at a man in a cave, the creature flies away, the man and another man on horseback give chase, one man throws an ax with a tether, the ax strikes the creature, the man pulls himself up toward the creature, and the creature's tail strikes the horse and another rider on the ground (they appear OK but they fall); many arrows are fired toward them from the ground, they whiz by the man and he tries to fend them off with his sword, he cuts the tether and falls to the ground catching onto a root to keep from falling into a canyon.
 Many men on a bridge are burned by a huge flying creature: we see the men running in flames, a man jumps onto the back of the creature as it flies beneath the bridge, the creature picks up three men in its mouth, then spits them out, it drags its back on rock cliffs trying to get the man off its back, it dives into the sea taking the man with it, and they both come out OK.
 Two men swim in the sea (we are told for 5 days), sea monsters attack and one man kills several of them by stabbing them in the eyes (blood spurts), slicing them down the body (blood and organs flow out), and one catches the man in its mouth and he pushes his way out through the monster's eye (blood spurts).
 During a battle scene many arrows are launched in the air, one strikes a man through the head (blood spurts and the point pokes out of the back of his head), and other men fight with axes and swords, several men are struck, and blood spurts and sprays.
 We see many bodies hanging from the ceiling of a hall and we see blood trickling down their limbs and onto the floor below.
 A creature (we do not see its form clearly) screams and moans loudly, scratches itself on the face with a large claw and blood pours from the open wound. The head of a dead creature falls in water behind a man and the man is startled. A tentacle and a reptilian looking hand caress a creature's head and face as it lies dying (we see that the creature is missing its arm at the shoulder, and blood and bone are visible). A man throws a creature's severed head on the floor as proof its demise.
 A flying creature blows fire at a building, it burns and we see a man inside with burned flesh on his head and face. We see a man attached to a cross and he tells another man that his family was burned alive. A creature is shown dragging two bodies back to its cave.
 A man with a large stick strikes another man repeatedly on the head and back. A man kicks a boy repeatedly and the boy falls to the floor.
 A man throws himself off a high ledge and we see his body lying on the ground below. A man rides a horse across a burning bridge and makes a long jump to the other side (they are OK).
 A woman nearly falls from a high walkway, a young woman holds her, she slips and begins to fall, and a man catches her and brings her up to safety.
 A man with an ax confronts another man who removes his armor and bares his chest, telling the first man to kill him; instead, the man drops his ax and falls to his knees. A man on horseback holds a spear to another man's head and threatens him. A female sea creature (she looks like a mermaid) pulls a man under water, and he drops his dagger when they come close to each other.
 A dead man lies on a ship, it sails beneath a bridge, flaming liquid is poured on the ship, and the ship catches fire, burns and sinks. We see dead bodies wrapped in cloth and set on fire. A man orders dead bodies to be burned and we see several bodies being piled onto carts and taken away. Two men find human bones piled outside a cave.
 A large ship is tossed about on very rough seas during a storm (it makes it to shore). Something breaks down the wall of a large hall and several men are thrown through the air.
 A man holds a woman close to him and tries to convince her to have sex with him, she refuses, pushes him away, he asks her for oral sex and she slaps him in the face.
 A man raises his sword and swings it at a female creature, but he does not strike. A man yells at a woman and she cowers and runs out of the room. Two men argue and one pushes the other to the floor.
 A woman describes the remains of men who died trying to kill a monster (blood splattered on walls and floors, etc.). A man talks about another man having killed his two brothers when he discovered them having carnal "knowledge" of their mother. A man says that he beat his slave. A man says that his father died in battle.
 We hear a loud, bloodcurdling scream echoing through caves and mountains. A large dog snarls and bares its teeth. A man has a nightmare and sees a man turn into a creature with many sharp teeth. During a celebration we see a re-enactment of the slaying of a creature by a man.
 A creature stands over a woman who's lying on the floor, she whimpers, the creatures drools and the slime nearly lands on the woman. A rat skitters across a rooftop and a large bird grabs another rat from the same rooftop (the rat screeches briefly) and flies away with it in its talons.
 We see a whole, roasted pig with a pole through its mouth being carried by two men (the pig is still smoldering). A man cooks a rodent on a stick over a fire.
 A man has been burned and has scarred tissue on his eye and face. Two men urinate (we hear trickles).

LANGUAGE 4 - 7 sexual references, 1 anatomical term, 5 mild obscenities, name-calling (weasel-faced, fool), 1 religious exclamation.

SUBSTANCE USE - Many people are shown drinking mead until the point of drunkenness in several scenes, a man lies unconscious on a table after he gets drunk, a man falls asleep during a celebration after he gets drunk, mead is poured into a goblet and the goblet is carried to a man who drinks from it, and a large hall is called a mead hall and is used for celebrations.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Heroism, betrayal, infidelity, love, shame, fear, monsters, greed, sacrifice, curses, bestiality, multiple sex partners, bravery, worshipping gods, suicide, glamour, secrets, conscience, glory, vanity, pride, victory, defeat, sins of the fathers, exaggeration, stories of heroic feats.

MESSAGE - Greed and the lust for fame can cause men to make foolhardy choices.

(Note: A man makes a remark about the Christ God killing all the heroes and leaving weeping martyrs behind.)

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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