Eragon

Movies Forum

Plot Outline: In his homeland of Alagaesia, a farm boy happens upon a dragon's egg -- a discovery that leads him on a predestined journey where he realized he's the one person who can defend his home against an evil king.

15 December 2005

I am very excited about this movie. Loved the book, still waiting for number three to come out. I hope that they do a good job with this and that Saphira doesn't look super fake.

I hope the movie is good. I would LOVE to take Damon to see it, just a mom and son type of thing. He loves dragons and knights so I think he will love the movie. I hope that Saphira doesn't look too cuddly.

I wonder how they are going to do the link between them? It probably won't happen, but I'm crossing my fingers that they don't make Saphira move her lips or personify her too much some other way.

Who's making it? Any info?

Screw this movie and I will never see it.

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Why do all these books/movies somehow involve some little twerp who's the only one who can save the world? No wonder nerds eat this stuff up.




Sorry, HECK is a negative influence

Nah, some little dork boy bed wetter wrote this book in a post-HP world and it was eaten up like Flintstone vitamins despite is inherint crappiness (sp?). I haven't read it, fine, but the reviews have summarily slammed this pile like the... eh, I'm not going to go off on a rant right now. I might sully my otherwise standup rep on this piece. Holla back.

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Don't knock it man, I just checked... the guy who wrote this also wrote Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.


Thing's looking worse by the minute...

EDIT: Though the director was second unit director on Galaxy Quest. That almost makes up for it...

I saw the poster and Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich are in it. Those guys are dope as all hell. But I swear this movie can go strait to the third realm and turn right. This punk kid will not get any recognition from me ever. I saw him on Jay Leno and spit beer and changed the channel.

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Well the kid was 15 when he wrote it. It was an enjoyable story, but he did rip off Tolkien a bit with his stuff. I blame that on youth but it was off putting to me. Still, it is a movie that my kid will love, so I will take him to see it.

THe hero Eragon (hmmm sounds a bit like Aragorn) is a dragon rider. He must lead the forces against the evil King who killed all the other dragon riders. There are people that fight too, but he is "the hero"

A movie for the kids is huge, absolutely.

It has some dope actors so I am really on the fence about it.

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Hopefully some good trailers will come out soon. That will give us a clue if it is a good movie or not.

Oh wow. I've been trying to read this book since before Christmas. My brother told me that I should read it. I don't even think I've quite managed to get myself half way through it yet I've had the thing for nearly a year. I'm sure that my brother would like to have his book back...so he can hand me the second one and it take me a year to read it too I wonder if he knows that they're making a movie out of it? Maybe I should tell him. It's a good book. But I have absolutely no trouble whatsoever putting it down for six months at a time.

The book was good, but it was not one of those books that you can't put down. I guess I never felt emotionally invested in any of the characters. He didn't hook me with any of them.

This book is the bane of my existance.

Some of the reviews on Amazon were hilarious.

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You know, maybe I should just give him the book back and wait for the movie to come out. I keep telling myself that I really need to finish it so I can give it back to hm. It just isn't working.

I've done that a few times. Like Da Vinci Code and the last few Larry Pooter books.

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I liked the Harry Potter books. I read some of those at least once a day. Eragon, however, I tend to put down for weeks at a time.

I think that is the big drawback to the series. You can put it down for long periods. The book is good, but do you really feel the characters? Do you care if they are killed off? Not really. CP writes well, but he does not have any emotional depth to his writing. For me to love a book, I have to know how the characters feel and be able to either root for them or despise them. The book was written by a young teen, so it does not surprise me that the book does not have heavy emotional layers.

I don't know, I for one couldn't put the book down and was really interested in what happened to Eragon. When Murtagh supposedly died I was very upset. I may not be as interested in the series and characters as I am with Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, but I am definitely interested in them. I can't wait for the third book to come out and I'll probably not put it down except for sleep and homework and Lost.

Umm, you wouldn't happen to be reading Eragon right now, would you?

No, I have absolutely no interest in it I'd have actually killed Murtagh myself, if it were at all possible.

Whew, I thought I'd just ruined something there. I have a tendency to talk about the plot of books and movies without asking if the people I'm talking to have finished them yet

Are you going to check out the movie at all?

Depends if the trailer looks okay, to be honest. If it's going to be an hour and half of dragons and swords, it may be worthwhile.

There's a trailer

http://-trailers.blogspot.com/2006/...06-trailer.html

I think I'll wait for the video. Doesn't look too bad, but it's like 100 other stories.

My son will totally love it. I bought the book because I know when he is older that he will love the story. I plan on taking Damon to see the movie, just us two for a fun night.

Still, CP ripped off Tolkien stuff for his book IMO. I'd love to hear what Shadow or White Tiger thinks. They are the Tolkien experts.

I would like to see the movie at some point.

The movie is supposed to open soon. I can't wait to go see it.

My mom is really excited about this one. I want to see it... but, I don't know if I can, with how painful my back has been, lately. I might be waiting for it to be released on dvd... which isn't what I want to do. The previews look really good.

I hope to see this on opening night with my friends. If not this Friday, then over winter break fo sho.

This movie can slide off.

I hear it might be a train wreck. I guess the whole thing was in the can when the execs thought it was super crap so they did a re-write and re-shot 30% of the movie.

Even with Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich, two of my favorite actors ever, Eragon can lick it.

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I'll probably see this movie. I love John Malkovich. I have no clue what this movie's even about, but i like dragon movies.

Some punk kid sucks and rides dragons. Insert Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter and every other story ever thought of. You wasted your money. The end.

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...jealous....

That tears it.

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I told my brother the other day when he and his wife came over that I may just wait for the movie to come out and go see it. The book is really not going very well for me. I've had it a year and I've still only read about half of it.

Then again, I'm off work for the next week. Maybe I'll try to finish it. It's just not a hard book to put down...for long periods of time.

And that is awesome because there aren't many movies that parents and kids can dig, so that's hella cool.

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Well he thinks Dad is soooo cool, so I'm aiming for not being uber lame.

Here's a review from AICN.com of a pre-screening (very very mild spoilers.) I guess it made a kid cry:


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I work for a major entertainment company and was offered tickets to a preview of "Eragon" at Northpark Mall in Dallas earlier tonight.

I haven't read the books, but I was accompanied by two 11 year old boys who had along with my college age niece, who's also a fan of the series.

We didn't like it.

My son was disappointed almost to tears at the liberties the film took with the novel. Apparently the big climactic battle is created out of whole cloth and has no counterpart in the novell.

As a writer I know of the many challenges faced in adapting a novel to the screen, but from what I could see much of the spirit of the novel is lost in this cinematic translation. The character of Eragon is a sketch - almost no effort is given to let us see him as a human. He simply acts the way he acts - impulsive at times, belligerent on occasion - because the script demands it of him.

Time is compressed in a very clumsy way - so much so that the dragon ages from infancy to something like late adolescence in the course of a single flight on a single afternoon. And no, this is no cinematic license, it's literally one afternoon.

Jeremy Irons does what he can lending his gravitas to the obligatory teacher - student dynamic but frankly, Eragon is such an impuslive ass you wonder why Irons doesn't just cold **** him and take off on the dragon himself.

And don't ask about poor John Malkovich. If his career was in a stall before this movie, it will shortly be in a nose-dive.

The direction is just... words fail me. It's not really bad so much as it's inadequate. The film is edited as if it's been carved out of a bigger and maybe better movie - perhaps in the interesting of getting it down to a reasonable time, but the result is an edit job full of awkward transitions, scenes that seem to end before they should, and a herky jerky pace that pulls you out of the film.

The most damning evidence - the almost tearful state of my 11 year old son who's been looking forward to this movie for months and is now bitterly disappointed because - in his words - "they made a mockery of it."
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If an 11-year old kid said "they made a mockery of it" THAT'S impressive.

WHO is this person that's writting this? Why should I listen to him if I don't listen to REAL movie critics? Regardless, anytime a movie has to be re-shot, it's bound to be doomed.

I HATE i hate I HAAATE when the editing is jacked. That makes or breaks a film. I've worked in editing before and it's time consuming and hard. Maybe the editing peeps didn't have much to work with to begin with.

It's just some guy who saw the movie and wrote into AICN.com. They saw a pre-screening. A lot of fanboys see a flick early and write in to this site so they always have early reviews.

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Review: `Eragon' offers standard fantasy

By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer

The fantasy land of Hollywood now presents "Eragon," essentially "Star Wars" — with dragons. Or maybe "The Lord of the Rings" — with dragons.

This sword-and-sorcery tale loots its plot points and character archetypes from millennia of standard-issue mythology, old and new. It does offer some striking visual effects and a climactic battle of computer-generated combatants that's rousing enough, even if it looks like outtakes from the epic clash of "The Return of the King."

To the movie's credit, director Stefen Fangmeier has rounded up a top-notch cast, including Academy Award winners Jeremy Irons and Rachel Weisz, along with John Malkovich, Djimon Hounsou and Robert Carlyle.

Adapted from the first novel in Christopher Paolini's "Inheritance" trilogy, "Eragon" is set in Alagaesia, which would have made a good name for a laxative but is the author's stand-in for Middle-earth of "The Lord of the Rings."

Alagaesia is a realm of sorcerers, elves, monsters and dragons, though the latter have become scarce since tyrant King Galbatorix (Malkovich) betrayed the Jedi Knights, er, the dragon riders, humans who ride the flying beasts and maintain peace in the land.

Years ago, dragon rider Galbatorix managed to wipe out his brethren and their fire-breathing lizards — or so he thought. A single dragon egg has eluded him, and through some hocus-pocus, it comes into the possession of innocent farm boy Luke Skywalker, oops, Eragon (teenage newcomer Ed Speleers), who lives a quiet life in a small village with his uncle and cousin.

Resembling a huge blue jelly bean, the egg hatches to reveal the cutest little dragon you've ever seen. The wee one immediately bonds with Eragon, who has been chosen to lead the rebirth of the dragon riders and battle Galbatorix.

The dragon reaches mammoth adulthood fast — like, blink-of-an-eye fast, but that's the problem with dragons, they grow up so quickly. Suddenly, the beastie is able to communicate telepathically with Eragon in Weisz's classy voice (must be something about Oscar winners and dragons; Sean Connery was the reptile's mouthpiece in 1996's "Dragonheart").

The dragon notifies Eragon that her name is Saphira, and she's there to take him into the not-so-friendly skies. Tragedy at home sends Eragon and Saphira on the run with Sir Alec Guinness, make that Irons, as Brom, a former dragon rider who becomes the youth's Obi-Wan Kenobi mentor.

Brom instructs Eragon in the ways of dragon riders while racing to the rebel base, no, wait, the hideout of the freedom-fighting Varden, led by the noble Ajihad (Hounsou).

Meanwhile, back in Mordor, or rather, Galbatorix's castle, the king and his sorcerer lackey Durza (Carlyle) keep sending their inept monster henchmen after Eragon and friends. Durza has imprisoned the lovely Princess Leia, wait, we mean the warrior princess Arya ( Sienna Guillory), who was on a mission to find the next dragon rider and now is being used by the wizard to hunt down Eragon.

Lest Han Solo fans feel their man's been left out, "Eragon" also includes the wily rogue Murtagh (Garrett Hedlund), who becomes an ally to the good guys despite his shady pedigree.

The story plays out by-the-numbers, with lots of magic, swordplay and some rather intense images for a PG-rated movie. Saphira's a cool digital creation, soaring eagle-like on wings both scaly and feathery, her expressive face a nice match for Weisz's stately voice.

Bland pretty boy Speleers is overshadowed by his dragon and human co-stars, with Irons especially impressive despite some very silly dialogue. With really bad teeth and wild auburn-red hair, Carlyle's Durza is a decently deranged madman. Malkovich is limited to a few scenes, though the movie sets up a clear sequel with a bigger role for the evil king.

Far more interesting than anything on screen in "Eragon" is the back-story of its creator. Author Paolini just turned 23 and was home-schooled by his parents, the family publishing the novel themselves before Alfred A. Knopf picked it up and turned it into a bestseller, along with part two of the trilogy, "Eldest."

That's a great fantasy tale, and one that happens to be true.

"Eragon," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG for fantasy violence, intense battle sequences and some frightening images. Running time: 103 minutes. Two stars out of four.

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That's it, I am ripping off Robocop, The Jeffersons, Spaceballs, Law & Order and Land Of The Lost for my book.

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oooh boy a movie chock full of cliche fantasy. sweet. like i haven't seen that done before in star wars, LoTR, and whatever fantasy book/movie i've read or seen. that and the trailers i saw looked pretty uninspiring. like lord of the rings (to which all things seem to be compared, given it is the archetype for this genre) only less great, and with dragons.

and i think heck's book would be absolutely hilarious to read

Ah I am not the only one who felt CP ripped off a bunch of movies. Still, it's my night out with my kid, and I'm taking it.

Heck, I'd love to read your book, BUT if I read about any PAB's in there, I'm suing you.

My book will rule the whole galaxy of rings and cybernetic robo-terminator-predator people from the future/past that has to make sure their parents hook up and have a kid who is the general in the future who hooks up Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock that will meet although they are a year apart.

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Do not go see this movie. We stayed for an hour and had to leave because the sound was all messed up. It is o.k. for the dialog, but waaaay too loud on the action parts. Talk about some bad movie writing. John Malkovitch looked BAD in his part. It was like the old Star Trek days with William Shatner. "oh yes, I must have the egg" type of crap.

Man.... this movie is really getting bad reviews.

How did Damon feel abou the movie, Sherry? Did he want to leave?

He hated the sound, and the creatures were scary to him. He totally wanted to leave, but he wasn't freaked out scared, just didn't like it. The writing was really bad. It had a huge voice over in the begining of the movie that had to explain everything. It didn't work well. It was trying to be like LOTR and it came off as lame.

Yeah, from the trailers of Eragon, it looked really good... but had the feel of LotR to it. I was a bit worried that they were copying certain previous movies.

You know that there is going to be a sequel, but I don't see how it can work when they left out the Star Sapphire, Eragon getting his back sliced open, the full fortune-telling of Angela, and the werecat whose name I can't remember how to spell right now. Plus, what's with Arya? She's not distant at all but pretty much begging Eragon to hit on her

If I hadn't read the book first I might have liked it, but as it is I thought it was lame.

Pretty marginal reviews. About what I expected...

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
"More family friendly than a soaring fantasy." more... C+

Boston Globe, Wesley Morris
"...the first in a planned series of movies based on Christopher Paolini's insanely popular fantasy novels, but it already feels tired." more... C

Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips
"...a bit cheesy, but I rather liked it." more... B-

E! Online, Luke Y. Thompson
"As a shadowy sorcerer, Robert Carlyle is stuck with a makeup job that wouldn't pass muster on Star Trek..." more... C

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I'm starting to get the feeling that if I finish this book then I'll probably like the movie a lot less than I would it I didn't finish it.

Ok, so my pet and I saw the movie the other night. It wasn't "bad" so to say. But even though I've only read about half the book I could still tell that they left huge chunks out of the movie. Brom didn't tell any stories nor did he teach Eragon magic in the movie. In the book he gave Ergon lessons in magic by day and sword fighting by night while they were traveling. They left all of this out of the movie. The dragon...he didn't try to hide it from anyone in the movie and it quite literally grew up in one flight. There were also a lot of little things that they left out as well like Eragon's older brother chasing after a girl and the cat that he met at the fortunteller's in the book. He didn't name the dragon in the movie either. The dragon told him what her name was. The dragon wasn't a smart@$$ in the movie either. In the book, she was.

It wasn't a bad movie, but they definitely could have done better with it than they did. I didn't see where it was a "Lord of The Rings rip off" though. Basically, if you read the book, skip the movie. If you've seen the movie, skip the book.