Beowulf.

At a 1st glance this didn't seem really promising: the technology used for the Polar Express (which was a so-so Christmas tale, so kids only, and with fish eyed characters) was going to be used again to tell a story I had only heard of in a crappy film starring Christophe Lambert...

But that story was adapted by Roger Avary & Neil Gaiman, which is a 1st good sign.
Also, I read a few things in which director Robert Zemeckis was stating he wanted to do something more adult to follow up on the Polar Express.
A good script and good intentions are always nice things, but don't always give a good movie.
What of this?

Well it's fine example of a very succesfull epic!

Technically, it's stunning. The technique consists in digitalising the actor's performances and then recreating everything from scratch in CGI.
It therefore frees the camera (which is then virtual) completely and make possible the wildest movements.
It also enables a lot of liberties on the characters, as you can see with Beowulf, a young buffed up colossus that is originally played by Ray Winston, a 50-something actor.

The textures are amazing (especially skins and hairs) and the characters movements also, which is no real surprise as they're "real".
There are still a few things that feel strange (the horses in particular).

Having said that, and eventhough the point is more or less "photorealism", I don't think the point here is to recreate "real" in CGI.
It's just a hybrid between animation and live action. It's an animation movie, but instead of having only voice acting it also captures physical acting.
So as such it's neither, it's just another way to make pictures, to tell stories.

And that's actually there that Beowulf is, in my opinion, the most succesfull: the story is truly engaging.
It obviously treads on 300 ground, being a sort of bedtime story, the kind that gets bigger each time it's told (you actually get a nod to this at the beginning of the picture). It's firmly centered around its main character, but whereas in 300 couldn't really identify with the main characters (unless you're a wild warmonger), Beowulf is a very human character, despite being a hero.
He's faillible and his pride will lead him to his fall, but ultimately his redemption.

All this takes place in a pure medieval fantasy setting, meaning brutal fights and epic set pieces, magnified by the possibilities of the virtual camera.

So not only this is a technology leap, it's also an emotionnal journey doubled with an amazing ride...