***
Eragon
In the land of Alagaesia, a 17 year old farm boy named Eragon goes out early one morning to hunt. Out of no where appears a shiny blue stone the size of a large watermelon. He takes it home with him and at first tries to sell it to a local vendor. The vendor realizing immediately this is something King Galbatrorix (John Malkovich) will want to kill for will have nothing to do with it. Eragon takes it home and hides it in the barn.
What Eragon doesn't know is he has been chosen by an elfin princess who sent to stone magically to him to keep it away from the evil King. Shortly after hiding the stone, which is really one of the last dragon eggs to exist, it hatches before Eragon's eyes. What emerges is a beautiful blue dragon which quickly grows up to become a very large dragon. A dragon that read his thoughts and communicate telepathically with him. Her name is Saphira (Rachel Weisz). She tells Eragon she's waited 1000 years to be born to the right person. Her rider. Him.
Eragon learns from the local storyteller named Brom (Jeremy Irons) that the land used to be filled with dragons and their chosen riders. They were the peacekeepers. Even the King use to be a rider. Over time greed inhabited them and a civil war broke out killing what they believed to be all the dragons and most of their riders. Brom who was also a dragon rider carries much guilt about this battle. He takes it upon himself to mentor the boy who has also inherited the magic that comes to every rider.Eragon starts off as an arrogant boy who acts prematurely. Brom tries to instill in him to be wiser with his actions because a rider will live if the dragon dies but if a rider dies so does his dragon. And the evil King knows this also which puts Eragon's life and that of his dragon at stake. At the moment his biggest hurdle is the malicious wizard, Durza (Robert Carlyle), sent by the King to kill Eragon, and finding the Varden Rebels who went into seclusion after the age of dragons.
I felt all the actors did an exceptional job. I even enjoyed Jeremy Irons who I've never been especially warm to. The dragon special effects are a highlight to be sure. Saphira is magnificent and blue! The movie is listed as containing violence and mature themes but I didn't find it nearly as violent as Narnia or Lord of the Rings (both of which I loved). In some instances the relationships did feel sped up causing a loss of connections but the real characters are the dragon and her rider. Eragon ends with one battle over only to lead the way for another. I sense a sequel. This movie is based on the book of the same name by Christopher Paolini and is part of a trilogy. I have not read the books but after seeing the movie and checking out the "spanning time" feature on the official website I'm putting them on my wish list. I was very excited about this movie and really enjoyed it.Amazon: 4/5 Dragons Rule!
***
Topic Links
* Eragon on Widescreen DVD
* Eragon, Inheritance, Book 1 by Christopher Paolini
* Eldest Inheritance, Book 2 by Christopher Paolini
10 comments:
Couldn't wait! Bought part one and two today when I was at Shoppers. I took it as a sign of fate when I saw them. I was there looking for something else and they practically slapped me in the face. I have to finish two reviews before I start them. I'm so excited. :)
the book was soooooooo much better though. i mean the movie was amazing, but compared to the book i sucked...i still luved it just the book was way better
I'm sorry but tbh I found the movie a disappointment. Lord of the rings is about 2 - 3 hours each and a shorter book by comparison eragon is longer and yet the film only 1 1/2 hours no wonder they had to cut some bits. Also what silly mistakes like changing Arya's hair colour from black to blonde and making eragon older. Plus there are sooo many characters left out
before you say how great a movie was, maybe you should read the book that the movie was based on. I thought the actors were horrible and didnt fit the characters at all, also they completely ruined the movie, if you make a movie that was a book, actually follow what was in the story. Saphira was pretty good for special effects, but she didnt even look right. Overall i thought the movie was a disaster, and i hate it when people who only see the movie and don't read the book think the moive was great. Maybe you should read the books of the movies that you love so much and then make comparisons.
I totally disagree. I don't think you have to read a book a movie was based to review a movie. They are two different entities. If I was doing a comparative study then yeah, sure but I wasn't.
There is no way to be absolutely faithful to a book while making a movie. It's impossible unless you are making a two week long movie and even then there would still be changes.
Movies that are based on books not exact replicas. And I think constantly comparing them to books and nitpicking about things like hair color does them an injustice.
I just want to say...If you've read the books, the movie was a TOTAL dissapointment. THEY SHORTENDED IT TOO MUCH!! They took one of the best book's I've read in my 13 years and destroyed it! I'm boycotting any of the other movies. They left out a lot of parts, and for that I cannot forgive them. In the movie, Arra was the same size as Eragon! I thought the elves were SHORTER than humans. And what about Snowfire and now-I-forget his name???
I Just got done reading the Eragon book. I then, within a few hours, watched the movie. I'm sorry, but I found the movie just... "meh". I mean, if I had never read the book, I'm sure I would have thought the movie was good, at least decent. But compared to the book, it changed way too much. And took WAYYY to much out of it.
If you don't mind spoilers...
In the book, Arya is in a kind of sleep due to poison, until they reach the vardan where they get a cure. In the movie, she's awake the whole time and travels with them. ..
In the book, Eragon met Mertagh before going to Gil'ead, yet in the movie he met him AT Gil'ead.
They cut out a bunch of stuff, such as Brom teaching Eragon magic, like moving rocks and stuff. There was a big part where they crossed the desert and Eragon had to learn a new spell in order to get water from underground. And the battle at the end against Durza was just WRONG.
There was just WAY to much stuff changed in the movie for me to fully enjoy it.
Keep in mind. I'm not saying anything against the actors, they were great. As was the effects, and voice acting of Saphira...And like I said, if I never read the book, I'm sure I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more than I did.
i think the movie was really bad compared to the book
tho saphira was neat
they didnt show majorly imp parts
they didnt show eragon gettin his scar or oromis comin in his dreams
n eragon isint 17
he isint evn 17 in brisingr
I saw the movie before I read the book and I really enjoyed the movie. When I read the book, I realized just how much they did leave out, but I still like the movie. A lot of stuff happened in the book that didn't happen in the movie, but that's how books that are made into movies have to be. If they even attempted at putting in every single detail, it would have ended up being a 6 hour movie, or a confusing 2 hour movie that jumped around like a rabbit on speed. No one would have understood what was happening.
The book was BY FAR better than the movie. There were so many characters left out: Orik, Solembum (honestly, HOW DO YOU FORGET SOLEMBUM?), Jeod (and, by extensio, Helen), Katrina, and the Twins!
Durza's eyes were not crimson, like the book said. Snowfire, the white stallion, was charcoal-black. Arya had blonde hair instead of black, and her ears weren't even pointed!
Brom and Eragon killed the Ra'zac in the movie...the Ra'zac were supposed to kill Brom, not Durza! And there was no Urgal ambush!
I might have forgotten a couple of things..... ._.
Post a Comment