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Title
Rating : 2.5
 
 
Description
Source : Amazon.com

While it owes much of its appeal and appearance to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Eragon can stand on its own as an enjoyable fantasy for younger viewers. Faithfully adapted from the bestselling novel by teenage author Christopher Paolini, this boy-and-his-dragon tale offers clean, fast-paced family entertainment without compromising the darker qualities of Paolini's novel (the first in what is known as the "Inheritance" trilogy). The plot centers on 17-year-old peasant farmboy Eragon (played by appealing newcomer Ed Speleers) who discovers a mysterious blue object that turns out to be an egg that eventually hatches to reveal Saphira, a blue-scaled dragon that quickly grows to full-size. According to prophecy, Eragon is destined to be a dragon-rider like those who once protected a benevolent kingdom, thus reviving an ancient conflict against the army of King Galbatorix (John Malkovich), a former dragon rider who turned to evil, now in alliance with a! dark-magic "Shade" sorcerer named Durza (Robert Carlyle). While the movie serves up familiar fantasy elements and offers little if anything new to fans of the genre (or anyone who's read the books of Anne McCaffrey and Ursula K. Le Guin), it's visually impressive (especially the dragon scenes, with Rachel Weisz providing the telepathic "voice" of Saphira) and full of timeless wisdom, much of it delivered by Eragon's heroic mentor Brom (Jeremy Irons), himself a former dragon rider with memories of past battles and hope for Eragon's future. Add a fair warrior-maiden named Arya (Sienna Guillory) and you've got all the ingredients for a worthwhile (if not particularly original) fantasy that points directly to a sequel. Whether that's a good or a bad thing is up to individual viewers to decide. --Jeff Shannon

Eragon Extras


Christopher Paolini talks to us about his book and film inspirations and makes recommendations for fans of Eragon, click here to view the complete list. Build and customize your very own dragon with "Volksdragon".


Beyond Eragon


Eragon (Inheritance Trilogy, Book 1)
The Eragon Community on Amazon
Eragon Collectibles
Stills from Eragon







Cover Image
Product Information
Released on : December 15, 2006
Theatrical Release on : December 15, 2006
Running Time : 104 minutes
Publisher : Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Rated : PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Director(s) : Stefen Fangmeier
Format : AC-3, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, Special E
Languages : English, Spanish
Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
Studio : Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Actors
Ed Speleers, Sienna Guillory, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Djimon Hounsou
 
Price
List Price: $34.98 USD
Price: $31.49 USD
You Save: $3.49 USD (10%)
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Customer Review Results
RatingDateSummaryContent
1 2010-08-03 Not every movie is a winner. I've read Mr. Paolini's Inheritance set (so far) at least twice, in an effort to understand the modern development of the various dramatic and literary themes in use for the last 4,500 years - since the earliest Homeric epics, and including Shakespeare, T.H. White, and Tolkien. Paolini has done a marvelous job of incorporating the ancient themes with modern sensitivity. Unfortunately, Messrs. Peter Buchanan and Stefen Fangmeier blew it, in their movie "Eragon." The movie fails entirely to develop the lead character, Eragon, and entirely misstates the environment of Alagaësia and the efforts against the immortal king Galbatorix. I realize that "film" is not the same medium as text, but there's no excuse for omitting most of the motivations and the growth of Eragon as the story progresses. Also, there's next-to-nothing about "the rest of the story," no apparent lead-in to the later books, and thus to any later films. (There's really, as yet, no critical difference between film and DVD, as there is between film and stage, or either of those and text.) In my world, not worth the money.
1 2010-07-10 Is this supposed to be based on the book? So I've read and enjoyed the books, but when I watched the movie I had to ask myself...did the person/people who wrote the screenplay even read the book? The movie doesn't even remotely follow the book. Even if you haven't read the book(s), this is only a mediocre movie at best.
1 2010-06-30 It was mediocre; didn't follow the book; don't buy it; contains spoiler I read the book, and I highly recommend the book. I watched the movie, expecting it to follow it. It didn't. I was sorely disappointed with the movie. Don't buy it.
********SPOILER*********
It does well with unimportant pieces like how he found the egg, and Brom's story-telling. Those are kind of important, but not key points to the story. Brom and Eragon didn't go to any of the populated towns; they went from Carvahal to the dead town where Eragon found his magic, then they hiked across the forest line to the jail area and Eragon fought the urgals and Brom was mad and then they freed the elf and then they traveled a bit more and they found Murtag and Brom died and they traveled to the mountain and then they were barely accepted then there was the war and that's basically the entire movie
4 2010-06-25 Perfect for a Nerd For all my reviews visit my website

I am NOT reviewing the DVD. Just the movies unless otherwise stated.

Please note that the rating above might not accurately reflect my thoughts, you will see a rating sentence at the end of the review.

So yes, this is pure popcorn entertainment. Now, let me get this the bad stuff off as quickly as possible. The idea of being able to hear your thoughts is a constantly used idea that makes no logical sense at all. Not because it's physically impossible, but because it's mentally impossible. Some thoughts aren't in the English language. What if your working on a math test? Keep in mind the brain uses thinking not just to talk undisturbed, but too also make sense of situations, solve problems, and understand both points of view of life. Meaning, that you will think what you think you don't want too think even though you don't really believe that. So the idea of having one read your mind, would make the greatest confusion of all time, AND SHOULD BE PARODIED BY MEL BROOKS IF HE IS STILL WORKING! But anyways, that's the one big problem I had with this movie.

I'd say this is a good combination of Harry Potter, Godzilla and The Lightning Thief. Nothing is too deep, everything is completely fantasy and nothing at all hast to make sense. See the thing I love about this kind of movie, is that they're able to explain something that's completely illogical and make it sound completely logical. The actors, director and writer are able to immerse themselves in the impossible and understand just for the movie that it is possible. And that my friends! Is true genius. I cannot truly explain it. It is just an extremely fun time for nerds and geeks alike. Unless of course, your angry at what they cut from the book.

Now, lettuce go back to a movie called Night of the Living Dead. What was it innovative for? Well, many things. It started the rating system, it's known as the great great godfather of modern horror. But, too a naive perspective, it is innovative for it's African-American lead actor. Now, lettuce think of any other dragon besides this one. King Ghidorah? Guy. Smaug? Guy. Pete's Dragon? Guy. Godzilla? Guy. Just about every single dragon you can think of was a guy. Now, now, think about that for a second. That's been ingrained into your brain through the society's stereotypes. Here, they blow the roof off society and bring in a female dragon into cinema. Now that my friends, is truly innovative.

The CGI, I thought was impressive. I'm not gonna compare it too anything (and no coughs either,) because my brain might be fogged. But, I thought the CGI was very detailed and lifelike. Like, as if it was real material. I thought that was pretty impressive for a movie of this nature. Heck, being of this nature is impressive enough. So, in other words, I think this movie is extremely underrated. At least, from a non-book-reader's perspective. Well then...shall we give this movie a rating?

The Rating? Well...I think it deserves a good 4/5
2 2010-05-27 Not like the book...at all. Well, the movie isn't like the book at all. It has some cool graphics, the dragon is nice, which is why I bought it. I had read other reviews before I purchased the movie so I knew what to expect. The 1-2 star ratings are right on the money. I've been reading the books to my 7 year old and he LOVES them. My son enjoyed the movie alright, but even he said it wasn't really like the book. It's as if the producer read a one paragraph summery of the book and then created what he felt like. The acting was corny due to a VERY poor script, many of the creatures in the movie aren't what they are supposed to be (the urgles, elves, dwarves, ra'zac, etc.), and the so called plot is virtually non- existent. They removed all purpose and twisted things to suit their high paced film; meanwhile destroying the entire adventure of the book. The plot of the book was removed so much in the movie that Eldest and Brisingr wouldn't be able to follow. My son kept saying "Why did they do that? It doesn't make any sense" the entire time he was watching it. So if your looking for a movie companion to the book, you WILL be sorely disappointed. I can only hope that after the 4th book comes out they will redo the entire series properly, one QUALITY 3 hour movie per book. It would be worth it.