Review: Eragon

A young farm boy named Eragon finds a polished blue stone while hunting in the forest. The stone turns out be an egg, which hatches into a baby dragon. Eragon learns that he is to become a dragon rider and that he is part of this prophecy that is supposed to protect his land from the evil King Galbatorix. Dragons, magic, sword fights and special effects ensue.

Wow, what a rip-off of so many other movies! It seemed like this film wanted to be like LORD OF THE RINGS, but sadly for us, it’s actually nowhere near as sophisticated. Add to that, it practically has the same premise as STAR WARS IV, save for the fact that it doesn’t take place in a galaxy far, far away, and there was nothing original about this film, as it felt like I was watching a ‘B’ fantasy movie from the 80’s with the exception of better special effects– although even the effects weren’t that amazing! I can see kids between the ages of 8-12 liking this movie, but that’s about it! For those who are expecting to fill in the December LOTR slot this year, forget about it because this isn’t it folks!

The acting was also nothing special. Newcomer Edward Speleers did OK as Eragon. He’s young, dashing and very early Luke Skywalker-ish looking. Jeremy Irons plays Ben Keno…I mean Brom, Eragon’s mentor. He was good, but he just looked too tired for most of the movie. He had these crazy bags under his eyes and all I could think was, “Dude, get some sleep!”. John Malkovich plays the evil King Galbatorix, who was underused, but I’m pretty sure we’ll see him more in the sequels (if they are any).

The directing from the man behind the camera, Stefen Fangmeier, was also quite horrible. The story didn’t flow, the costumes were lame, and the characters were underdeveloped and spouted clichéd dialogue. The Urgals, who I guess were evil soldiers or whatever you want to call them, looked like a bunch fat guys with a lot mascara. Even the evil castle was a pile of big square blocks. No substance or anything to indicate that it was an “evil” castle. God, I could go on and on. The dragon effects were probably the best part of the movie but even they, weren’t that great! We’ve seen them before, they’re good, but they’re nothing really new. We already have other movies that set the standard in effects within this genre, so if you can’t match that, don’t even bother. Rachel Weisz’s voice was used for the Dragon Saphira, but even that didn’t convince me. Her voice just sounded too pretty to be a menacing dragon.

This movie was badly done and I really wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It should have gone straight to video or maybe it shouldn’t even have been made into a movie at all. The book was a bestseller, so I don’t see why they couldn’t find a director like Peter Jackson, who would take the time and create the details of what made the book so great, instead of creating a ‘B’ type flick. I just don’t get it because the movie had potential to be amazing.

— by Tim
Goernert