Further advancing the much-vaunted performance-capture technology he unleashed with "The Polar Express," director Robert Zemeckis delivers a muscular, sometimes stirring but ultimately soulless reinterpretation of "Beowulf." For all its visual sweep and propulsively violent action, this bloodthirsty rendition of the Old English epic can't overcome the disadvantage of being enacted by digital waxworks rather than flesh-and-blood Danes and demons. Clearly targeting the "300" crowd with its commercially shrewd combo of revisionist mythology and gory mayhem, pic should draw rousing biz worldwide, particularly from younger audiences.

Extra booty from 3-D coffers should also help, as the Paramount release will open Nov. 16 in standard 2-D, 3-D and Imax 3-D. The giant-screen format impressively maximizes the film's essentially assaultive approach, pelting the viewer with arrows, blood, spittle and other assorted viscera -- graphic enough to warrant an R rating, had the pic (rated PG-13) been rendered in live-action.

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