Ok, now I get it.

Constant readers will recall that I saw Beowulf a few weeks ago and that I was not all that impressed. I thumped my animation bible, cursing motion capture as the work of the devil.

Which makes this kind of embarrassing because last night I saw Beowulf in 3D at the IMAX in Waterloo. This time I wasn’t disappointed.

Many of the things that looked…well kind of naff in the 2d version only render with any kind of realism in the 3D format, this includes the curious pirrouets the thrown men perform during the many action sequences.

Even the eye movements – about which I was quite scathing in my review of the 2D version – are better in 3D. They still don’t entirely synch up but you don’t really notice it because the cutting together of shots compensates for it.

And the textures. Well if the texture artists don’t win some kind of award it’s a crime. That’s what brings the film alive for me, in 3D the characters all have texture, depth and weight.

I guess money was behind the decision to release a 2D version that so closely matched the 3D version but for me it was still a massive error. I can’t help thinking if the 2D version had been cut for 2D it would have hung together better.

The final verdict: see it in 3D. Don’t bother in 2D: it’s not meant for 2D, it’s not cut for 2D.

For anyone who was wondering how they do 3D projection these days, good news: they don’t use those multi-coloured shades any more.

And so no need to worry about looking silly.