On Eragon - the movie

Some good. More Bad. I won't write a detailed review like normal, but I will say this. The director of the movie was terribly afraid of being compared to Peter Jackson and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy to the point where the people in Eragon weren't allowed to mention even the name "Lord of the Rings". Seriously.

Believe me when I say this:

He was in NO DANGER of being anywhere near the level of being compared to the Lord of the Rings.

Apparently (in my opinion, of course) when directing the movie, the director never actually READ the book...or any fantasy book for that matter, that dealt with typical fantasy beings; elves, dwarves, evil creatures, etc. The 99 minute duration of the movie was my warning. It was too rushed and key things were changed. Key elements of fantasy were missing from the movie that were in the book. Characters weren't developed, scenes were done poorly, big cities were reduced to small villages, important parts were changed and then had to be made up for latter in the movie to fix the issues that arose, fantastical creatures were seriously lacking -- could you tell the girl was supposed to be a warrior elf instead of what they portrayed her as? And the acting of the "fortune teller" was so bad that I am still recovering from the shock. How can you have 5 lines to say and still mess it up? In the book, the old witch (not young goth fortune teller) had a bigger part. One good thing the director did was to cut most of her part out. This is why singers shouldn't act unless they really know how to. Another good thing I can say is that the graphics for the dragon was great!! Kudos to the dragon fight.

I thought there was a big enough following of Chris's books to force the director and screenwriter to stick within the main confines of this amazing fantastical story-- seeing how most people who went to see the film had read the book, or were planning to very soon. There are allowances for artistic expression and freedom, but it shouldn't disrupt the story. After all, by some miracle, Peter Jackson did it.

I didn't feel like I wasted money. After all, I did go during matinee prices. However, I was thoroughly disappointed.



Interested in great fantasy?





Do yourself a favor. Read the book.

It's a little rough around the edges, but the story is incredible!