The simple issue with Beowulf is that it’s too hard, because it’s written in Old English. The actual story is extremely exciting.

If you had someone reading it out loud, slowly, in the original OE, and subtitles translating into English, and something absorbing to watch — even just still illustrations of scenes from the book in Ken Burns style “pan and scan”, I think it would be a smash for kids.

Heck, I wonder if that would work for Shakespeare — with a running summary of it in contemporary English!

(But not Chaucer. I love Chaucer, but let’s be frank here — the Canterbury Tales are pretty corny for today’s kids.)