Eragon has to be the absolute worst adaption i have ever seen. If your going to fit 500 pages of decent story into 104 minutes your going to have a piece of sh*t movie. First of all, they cut the characters in half, then they went ahead and played mad surgeon with the plot and made a Journey seem like a few days ride.

This movie was so rushed and yet still had the ability to bore? The battle at the end was probably the worst. There was no struggle, the urgles seemed defeated in five minutes. And the late arrival of Murtagh almost made his role pointless.

All of a sudden Arya is a helpless (but beautiful), compassionate human- like character and not the wise, powerful character she should be. Brom's dying and she doesn't heal him? I mean, there was no poison preventing her, all there was, was bad screenwriting. And then she goes ahead and leaves at the end? Brom and Eragon were played okayishly.

On the bright side there were a few good things about the movie. Robert Carlyle did a good job of playing Durza, he was the best character of the movie and his make up was eerie. Joss Stone's appearance made me laugh though.

The graphics were awesome. Saphira was the best thing about the movie. The fight scene between her and Durza was fairly spectatular and woke me up from the boredom.

This movie brought nothing new to the table of epics. It had the same crappy score you'd expect from Kingdom of Heaven or LOTR. I'm certainly hesitant about seeing the next one when it comes out.

I agree felt really watered down LOTR

For anyone who likes the Fantasy genre, this is the movie to watch. It's the story of a young farm boy named Eragon (very weird name) who becomes the latest of an apparently dying breed of DRAGON RIDERS, after a dragon egg comes flying from above and lands right on the spot where he was hunting!!

This movie was truly painful to watch.

Other than the great special effects, the story offered nothing new, a young hero doing battle with an evil king?!! A fantasy cliche that kept reminding us constantly of other fantasy movies like Star Wars or Lord of The Rings.

I was very surprised to see Jeremy Irons playing a part in this thing.  He plays an ex-dragon rider who eventually becomes the mentor of the young boy and dies before the final battle begins.

What was most painful about this movie is the way it was told. Jeremy Irons spent the first and almost the entire second act giving us information about different legends that are supposed to explain what was going on throughout the movie. He kept doing it until he died, information that were supposed to make us fall in love with the dragon riders and believe they are the only answer to evil. IT DID'NT WORK!

This movie, I just learned was written by a 16 or an 18 year old, mind you. Not that I want to take away any credit from this kid, but I just whished he came up with something new and not so very predictable.

Christopher Paolini was apparently 15 when he wrote the book. I heard somewhere that his father owns a giant publishing house and his mother is an author herself and so they helped him A LOT with the novel. This could just be rumour, but that's just what I've heard.

Anyway, I'm avoiding this movie like the plague. I couldn't even get into the book. People have told me it's a great book and that I should read it and I have tried about three times. But I mean if you're 300 pages into a 500 page book and you're still not into it, I think that's the point where you have to stop. I certainly did.


Cheers, Chismeister.

My problem wasn't with the story or the book it was with the adaption. The screenwriter did a POOR job.

I went to see this because it came to the dollar theater the other day. I think that this was a pretty good film in terms of production value. They got everything right when it comes to visual effects, costumes, sets, etc.

I've read the book and didn't really like it. It was extremely cliche. The plot is identical to Star Wars and it steals its races and locations from Lord of the Rings.

So, when it comes to staying true to the book, I couldn't have cared less. In fact, I could understand why a screenwriter would move away from the book and go down a more original road. But that's just the problem...they didn't go down a more original road.

They took the very core of the story and shredded away any and all fat, and that's it. The only reason the book wasn't a complete copy of Star Wars was BECAUSE of the fat! And when the film got rid of the fat, it revealed the story for what it truly was.

But, already knowing that Eragon was going to be cliche, I went in hoping for a film that would be fun and action packed...and that's exactly what I got. It had some corny lines, yes, but the acting was superb. Even from young Edward Speleers, who, in my opinion, made a much more talented debut than what's-his-face from the Harry Potter films. In fact, I think that Ed Speleers can act better than any of the children on the HP movies.

Overall, Eragon is a fun film that never bores you. There's almost always action and there is a lot of eye candy. The story is a familiar one, but I believe that this film really shows the magic of cinema. Unlike all of these gritty horror films that seem to come out more and more often. I think that the main problem with this film is dialogue and the editing. The latter being the biggest problem. It was too fast paced for it's own good and lacked any real depth or character development.

My advice to you is to go into Eragon expecting a cliche yet fun and exciting film. Think of it as someone's retelling of Star Wars in a medieval world...and trade Space Ships for Dragons.

****/*****

A-