I remember having this discussion with this dude Falwell after he saw the flick:

Fallwell: So who was Ray Winstone?
Me: He was Beowulf, he was this guy.
Fallwell:  ...he doesn't look anything LIKE Ray Winstone.
Me:  I think that was the point.

You know, you do a hyperrealistic CGI movie (though the extras did look like they came out of freakin' Shrek), who not fill it with DEAD actors?  How about Peter O'Toole and Lawrence Olivier and Alec Guiness (I ALMOST wrote Alex Keaton) and so on and so on?  Outside of the likeness rights issues, obviously.  That would be my move.

I like me some Bob Zemeckis: Back To The Future, Forrest Gump, Contact (he did Contact, right?) etc.  But I don't like his CGI cartoons.  AT ALL.  I don't give a flying f*ck about a WHOLE act is one long camera move, in CGI that doesn't matter, I miss OLD Zemeckis.  But if Flight is any indication, that guy's not coming back.  But I don't care about the cartoons.

I will say that I like how they streamlined the story, making the dragon at the end Beowulf's son (and it was Winstone playing the part, too).  The whole thing had this sort of Shakespearean tragedy feel to it that I dug, I never really liked Beowulf until this movie.