The Northern Path

The official Beowulf movie website has a podcast series up now. Go to the main site and click on ‘Podcasts.’ The podcasts are on the long side, and I can’t decide if I liked the first one or not. As another blogger has pointed out, they really dumb down the poem, snickering at it as though it were something you would never want to actually read. The guys seem to have a lot more expertise in modern moviemaking and other Beowulf treatments, which they cover in loving detail and with great glee. They make fun of all of the other Beowulf movies, but I suppose that’s their job and in fact the other movies have been ridiculous. To this point, attempts to do a dramatic treatment of Beowulf have resulted in a train wreck. The hosts suddenly seem to realize where their logic is taking them, and assure us that this Beowulf movie will be much better.

Meanwhile, MacFarlane Toys has created a set of action figures with young Beowulf, Grendel, the dragon, and Grendel’s mother. (Warning: if you check out Grendel’s mother in hopes of seeing a naked Angelina Jolie, you’re going to be really, really disappointed.)

What I really want is the strange glowing meadhorn that everyone seems to have in the trailer. Maybe there will be a fast food restaurant tie-in and I can get one with a Happy Meal.