Director Robert Zemeckis' awesome Beowulf - a dragon's tale based on the epic English language poem - makes Eragon look like an overgrown salamander.

Returning to the 'performance capture' photography of The Polar Express, he has digitally fashioned a jaw-dropping action yarn of stunning originality.

Unfortunately - as is the way of these things - characterisation (weak, undeveloped) and dialogue (despite the best efforts of Pulp Fiction scribe Roger Avary) are as beached as Beowulf's boat.

Still, there's no denying the visceral power of the action sequences and the dragon - a terrifying airborne flame-thrower - is one of the most thrilling things you'll see on screen.

Apart from a digitally enhanced Angelina Jolie.

Beowulf (voiced by Ray Winstone but looking like Sean Bean) turns up in Denmark just as King Hrothgar (Hopkins) is resigned to his fate at the hands of the demon Grendel.

"I am Beowulf and I come to kill your dragon", barks the Sarf Lahndan saviour in geezerish tones more suited to ordering a lager-top at the Queen Vic.

However, any reservations about Ray's accent soon disappear as he strips off, 300-style, and hurtles into a right old closing time ruck with Grendel, a diabolic creation reminiscent of Jonathan King after a botched autopsy.

The blighter vanquished, Beowulf can turn his attention to the buffoonish Hrothgar's hapless Queen Wealthow (Wright Penn)… but he's overlooked Grendel's very angry mum (Jolie).

Visually, there's little to quibble about - but to luxuriate in its full gory glory you'll have to head for a cinema, or preferably, a 3D Imax theatre. Waiting for the DVD is not an option.

At a relatively snappy running time, there's also the concern that potentially interesting sub-plots - Malkovich's slimy lieutenant and the emerging Christian theme - have been stripped bare for reasons of economy.

What's left raises the bar as far as Tolkien-esque action blockbusters are concerned - gore levels make 300 look positively anaemic and, for the first time outside the porn industry, computer-generated sex rears its head.

Silicone breasts give way to the silicone chip. Glory be.

Tim Evans