MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
Since you can't see a Broadway show this weekend, there is always the movie theater. And for fans of computer-animated epics, the film "Beowulf" is calling.
U: Beowulf waes breme - blaed, wide, sprang...
NORRIS: Here's what you're in for this weekend:
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE "BEOWULF")
NORRIS: (As Beowulf) I'm Beowulf, and I'm here to kill your monster.
: That was the voice of Ray Winstone as the hero. Onscreen, director Robert Zemeckis has portrayed him as a strapping bronzed he-man. In fact, the entire cast has been digitized using sophisticated 3D computer animation.
NORRIS: The film takes some liberties with the storyline as well. Most significantly, it adds romance and sex and the figure of a nearly naked computerized Angelina Jolie.
: Straying from the original story didn't seem to bother the hundreds of people in line at a screening in Washington, D.C. this week. Most of the crowd couldn't recall the plotline anyway.
U: I know absolutely nothing.
U: Angelina Jolie is a co-star.
U: I mean, I don't remember much about the story. I did remember I like it even though it's something that I had to read.
U: Ain't it about some vampires or something, or werewolves or something?
U: I actually don't know about it. But from what I understand it was a story. He is a warrior. He fought the dragons. That's all I remember.
NORRIS: But it seems knowledge of the poem is not a prerequisite for enjoying the film.
U: I loved it.
U: I thought the movie was good. It had a good message - temptation?
U: Oh, I mean, it was really good and like - and it had, like, a very original concept, you know - well, not original...
U: Probably, maybe seven out of 10?
U: Overall, I'd say the movie is okay, definitely more a rental than the theater.
: That was Erin Scormanich(ph), Justin Wilson(ph), Cindy and Patrick Nibbersen(ph), Durvon Kyle(ph), Jessica Hardy(ph) and Norma Mosby(ph) fresh from seeing the Robert Zemeckis computer-enhanced "Beowulf."
NORRIS: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.