Last night I sat down and watched the film 300,the film of the Spartan's and the battle of Thermopylae.
The description of king Leonidas and the Spartans in the film is spoilt by the cartoon like villains and monsters,
in my opinion the story is strong enough to stand the test of time without the added extras.
They added nothing to the plot and a little bit more about the other Greek's that participated in the battle
would have made it just as interesting.
However, playing devil's advocate, if watching the film gets just a small percentage of it's young watchers
interested in history, then the monsters will have done a good job.