UTILISING the same sophisticated motion capture technology as The Polar Express, Robert Zemeckis’s computer animated re-imagining of the oldest surviving poem in the English language boasts dazzling fight sequences, lusty serving wenches and mythic creatures.

Jaws drop at this digitally enhanced live-action adventure, and that’s before the eponymous warrior sheds his clothes to fight the man-eating Grendel, or Angelina Jolie’s sylphlike form emerges naked and dripping wet to seduce the brawny hero.

Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary adapt the Anglo-Saxon poem into a three-act adventure, book-ended by terrific set pieces.

Unfortunately, the story sags badly in the middle section and the tone errs towards the unintentionally camp or unnecessarily risque.

When Beowulf decides to shed his clothes prior to the encounter with Grendel and stretches au naturelle before his men, one companion stands, transfixed by the fighter’s obscured lower portions, and stutters, “I don’t like the smell of this one!”

We can only presume he is referring to their dire predicament.

Carefully placed swords and background detail spare the hero’s blushes in an Austin Powers stylee.

Rolling back the mists of time to Denmark AD507, the film settles in the realm of corrupt King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins), whose sins have condemned his people to brutality at the hands of savage beast Grendel (Crispin Glover).

A great warrior (Ray Winstone) arrives by long boat on Danish shores.

“I am Beowulf and I am here to kill your monster,” the stranger proudly tells the King, casting an approving eye over pretty queen Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn).

Aided by his loyal sidekick Wiglaf (Brendan Gleeson), Beowulf wrestles with Grendel and rips the beasts’ claw from its socket.

The ogre is fatally wounded and Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie) swears revenge, forging a pact with her son’s slayer that seals the kingdom’s fate.

Beowulf is violent and gory with disturbing scenes of characters being torn limb from limb, fully warranting the 12A classification.

Winstone’s Cock-er-ney growl is misplaced next to his co-stars, many of whom attempt a Nordic twang.

As well as the traditional two-dimensional animation, Dolby 3D Digital prints of Beowulf will screen at selected multiplexes and large format cinemas will present Zemeckis’s eye-popping feature in IMAX 3D.

The results are jaw dropping.

Splinters of wood, gold coins and at least one severed head appear to fly out of the screen, and a razor-sharp spear stops tantalisingly short of piercing an entire section of the audience.

Dazzling as the visuals may be, the technology still cannot replicate realistic eye movement.

Close-up, characters look like dolls, with lifeless, glassy orbs replacing the windows to their souls.

Paying tribute to the mighty Beowulf, Wiglaf solemnly declares, “He was the bravest of us. He was the prince of warriors. His name will live forever.”

Forever is an awfully long time – until early December and the release of The Golden Compass seems more realistic.