Beowulf Movie Review

One of our first units this year in Mrs Kopp's class was our unit on Beowulf and heroes. After reading the first book ever written in the English language and finding out that there's a movie based on it, I couldn't help but become more interested and watch the entire movie myself.
Overall, I thought the movie was very entertaining, but did not stay true to the story. Once Beowulf finished his battle with the beast, Grendel, the story became vastly different. From there, it is revealed that Grendel is the love child of Hrothgar and Grendel's mother, and Hrothgar kills himself after pledging his kingdom to Beowulf. When Beowulf goes to fight Grendel's mother, *plot twist*, they end up conceiving a child.
Years later, when Beowulf is an old man and has ruled the Geats for years, a dragon terrorizes a village with a vow for revenge. *Plot twist*, this is the love child of Beowulf and Grendel's mother. Beowulf fights the dragon, just like in the book, but doesn't die from the dragon wounding him, and unlike the book, his men are not faced with the decision to join him in battle or not. Beowulf kills the dragon by ripping out its heart while dangling by his own arm.  Both Beowulf and the dragon tumble off of the cliff, and die on the beach.
We discussed in class why there might have been such drastic changes in the script compared to the book, and I do agree with these conclusions after having watched the entire film. The main reason for these differences is the appeal to the people of the 21st century. By adding the scandal to the story and hypersexualizing nearly everything, it adds drama and appeals to people of today's age. Adding certain plot points like Hrothgar's death also add more depth to the story that one would expect if they read the epic poem.
Overall, the movie was super entertaining, which is basically all I could ask for, and it puts an interesting and modern twist to a story that has been around for more than a thousand years.