Eragon is NOT a bad
movie. It’s not a great movie either. It’s a good enough movie that
leaves you thinking “If I hurry, I can get home in time for The Simpsons.”
But let’s not forget that it was penned by the wildly imaginative
Christopher Paolini who started writing the novel at the age of 15. If
you loved Lord of the Rings and you don’t mind some awkward dialogue every now and then, you’ll like this a lot.
The
Story: Eragon (Ed Speleers) finds a rock (which is actually a dragon
egg) that finally hatches in his presence because he is in fact the
rider that this paticular dragon has been waiting for. The cute cuddly
dragon, Saphira, (voiced by Rachel Weisz) struggles her way into dragon
adolescence in about a week, then becomes a full fledged flying
fighting fire-breathing machine in the course of a single short flight.
From that point on she lives by the dragon code of ethics, pledging a
life of service to her rider. The local town indolent and closeted
dragon rider, Brom (Jeremy Irons) finds a new purpose in his life by
mentoring young Eragon to save the kingdom from its cruel tyrant,
Galbatorix (John Malkovich) and his dark-magic henchman Durza (Robert
Carlyle). Sienna Guillory plays Ayra, the obligatory hottie.
The
performances were surprisingly good from all the actors. Jeremy Irons
clearly commands all attention while he is on screen. However, freshman
Speleers dealt with a wide range of emotion with surprising natural
ease. The rest of the cast was convincing enough in selling the
perilous pixilated journey.
First time director, Stefen
Fangmeier should be pleased with his work as well. He has created a
visually stunning work that no doubt owes a lot to his digital visual
effects background from ILM. It hardly seems fair though to lay a one
hundred million dollar movie on the plate of one who is more familiar
with directing non-human animated sequences rather than eliciting
pathos and ethos from real live actors. Except for Jeremy Irons’
scenes, there is a notable lack of human warmth and connection, and
therefore audience investment in the story…even if the baby dragon is
so gosh darn cute you just want to squeeze her.
Eragon
is a lovely and forgettable diversion that will likely be remembered as
another one of those dragon movies of the fantasy craze of the early
2000’s.
EXTRASExtras include interviews with the actors, commentary by the director, and storyboard evolution. Conclusion:
Movie 60% Extras: 50% 
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