Eragon (the movie) - spoilers

[Sonic#]

Ehhhhhhh...

It wasn't terrible (oh, when you're in a club that watches a few terrible movies a semester, not including the obligatory MST3K episode or two, you see terrible), but it was... mediocre.

The main problem for me was that... there was no sense of *travel* in the movie. In Lord of the Rings, you get a feel for how large of a world it is. In Narnia, it's not as relevant, but still somewhat emphasized. Here, where the journey from the Spine to the hideout of the Varden is long, drawn-out, grueling, and engaging in the book, here it's like, "We're going through the Spine, we reach a town, lalala, *saves Aria* to the Varden! We're here! Oh, we're in! *rest of movie*"

The dialogue was rather lackluster... and there were more nitpicky things (like the lack of training emphasized during the long term, ala Highlander, or the lack of a presence of many distinct supporting characters... it left me wondering, "How are we going to introduce their roles in the next movie?") The villain and everything else didn't really feel distinct... it was rather like a TV episode to me. Brom died way too suddenly... Aria's illness wasn't really emphasized (There's one part where she's suffering for it, they arrive, and bam! She's in full battle array).

There are some redeeming qualities, but not enough. Saphira was amazing, though her development is again sudden. The link between dragon and rider satisfied me. I did rather like Brom, in a strange way... and Eragon wasn't done all that badly, either, or even Aria... it was just, overall, any talent they may have had seemed undermined by unnecessary changes and a lack of length that gave it an according lack of depth.

Did anyone else see it?

[GhaleonOne]

I added a spoiler tag to the subject line cause there's way too much in there that looks spoilerish to someone like me that hasn't read the book or seen the movie. If I'm wrong and there's no real spoilers, feel free to remove it. Just with the mention of a death of a character, it sounds spoilerish.

I will say that user reviews seem to be trashing it if you've read the book(s?), but those that are just going for a movie seem to be liking it. I'll probably watch the movie then read the book.

[ilovemyguitar]

The reviews I'm reading are sorta trashing it. It's got 15% at Rotten Tomatoes.

[Sonic#]

Oooh, I forgot about that. Thanks, G1.

[Aquaignis]

I absolutely love the books. I have been waiting for this movie for a year and a half. I watched it on opening night.

It was highly disappointing. Only what? an hour and 40 minutes? Compared to the book, the movie is crap. However, Brom was great and Saphira was magnificent. Ed Speelers as Eragon was better than I expected. The movie is full of changes, most don't really matter. Example: Arya introduces herself as an Elven princess. In the books, we don't find out she's a princess until the second book, Eldest. I agree with you, Sonic, about the lack of sense of travel. I feel that if they had spent more time on the relationship between Eragon and Saphira, showed more of Eragon's traning with Brom, showed Solembum's advice, and showed Isidar Mithrim, the Star Saphire, it would have been a great movie. Eldest needs to be twice as long and three times more in depth to make up for Eragon.

Bottom line: Read the books, then watch the movie. You'll thank me for it if you do.

[wildthehero]

Ok, I saw this movie last night, and I have to say it is the first movie I've ever been to that I agreed with every review I read. Standing alone, this movie probably isnt really all that bad, but coming from the standpoint of being a huge Peter Jackon's LotR fan, this movie stank, and I just offended stinky stuff everywhere. Bad pacing, cheesy dialog, rushed scenes, cliche (almost Star Wars Episode II) storyline (Somebody save us from Hayden Christensen, PLEASE!!), and mediocre acting drive this movie into the ground for an hour and ten minutes. It fights back valiantly for the last half an hour, but ultimately falls short of the epic I'd hoped for. It's not all bad though. The dragon was well done. The cgi blends well, and her movements and motion flow naturally. I really like Brom's character, even past the cheesy dialog, and I had a feeling Arya was supposed to be an elf the first time I saw her. She definitely fits the bill. She's missing the ears, but we'll let that pass. This movie needed a new script and at least another hour to flesh out events leading up the the final battle, and I say that, because it definitely has tons of potential. If they went back and completely reworked it for a directors cut dvd release, I'd be willing to check it out. A younger audience may enjoy this movie, but if you're going looking for an epic, you'll probably leave feeling like you just watched a made for tv movie on the Sci-fi channel. Hope I didn't offend, but from what I've heard about the book, this movie falls so far short, people need to be warned.

[Aquaignis]

I have no problem with what you're saying. Which, coming from me, a HUGE Eragon book fan, is truly saying something. If there are enough bad reviews and complaints, then maybe Eldest will be something to look forward to.

[Jenner]

...the movie reminded me way too much of the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery. I'm waiting to hear about the lawsuit.

Telepathic dragons? Rider living if dragon dies but not visa versa? I was waiting for the Thread to start falling and F'lar to jump to the Dawn Sisters.

Though Eragon acts a bit more reserved, more like F'nor or F'lessan, heroicly stupid one moment, horrifyingly bland the next.

[Sonic#]

...the movie reminded me way too much of the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery. I'm waiting to hear about the lawsuit.

Telepathic dragons? Rider living if dragon dies but not visa versa? I was waiting for the Thread to start falling and F'lar to jump to the Dawn Sisters.

Though Eragon acts a bit more reserved, more like F'nor or F'lessan, heroicly stupid one moment, horrifyingly bland the next.

Wow... I understood all of that.

Yes, Paolini did borrow a lot from that, it seems like... though he placed his in a true fantasy setting, rather than a sci-fi one.

If his dragons could go between, I think there would be some trouble. But I think in this case what he's done is used a good standard, sort of in the same way that authors imply Asimov's Laws of Robotics (allowable) without being to quote them (zomg no!).

[Jenner]

I agree, if Saphira could teleport I'm sure Anne would be having a fit. Hell, she doesn't even let people write fanfiction about her stuff. She's prolly already having a fit.

[Aquaignis]

[quote]Rider living if dragon dies but not visa versa? [/quote]

That is not in the books, actually.

[Jenner]

Rider living if dragon dies but not visa versa?

That is not in the books, actually.

YES IT IS.


ZOMG SPOILERS FOR A 12 YEAR OLD BOOK SERIES. WATCH OUT.


L'ton's dragon is killed in a flight training and Lyton lives on, broken, but living. Later, he gets another Dragon and the bond is broken at best. When he dies that dragon dies with him.

It is the same with Firelizards! When there Impressors die they go between forever, they die. When Master Robinton died at the AI Zair died with him.

When Golanth was mauled F'lessan did not die.
But when a Weyr boy commited suicide his dragon died too.

This is Canon Pernian Fact.

[Alunissage]

Yeah, I really wonder where NextGenerationLunarFan got that from. Unless he's referring to Eragon rather than Pern? (I bought Eragon a couple years ago but have yet to so much as open it.)

The whole point of the ending of Moreta was that the dragon/rider bond was so strong that death of one pretty much inevitably led to death of the other, even if there was a delay sometimes. Brekke and Lytol were exceptions, and in the former's case she had a fire-lizard who snapped her out of it. There's also a dragonless man in Renegades, but he's clearly been traumatized by it. I don't recall Lyton getting another dragon, though, or a Weyr boy suiciding, unless it's in the most recent book by Anne and Todd, which I haven't read yet. Maybe later this year I'll reread the whole series, though I'm not sure I feel like slogging through Masterharper again. I really see them, and other sf/fantasy that I read as a teenager, differently as an adult, picking up on many things I missed before.

And twelve years? Weyr Search (part 1 of Dragonflight) was published in 1968 or thereabouts. I read the first two trilogies around 1987, and I think Moreta was published around then.

[Sonic#]

Oh, Masterharper was one of my favorites when I first read them, but I haven't read them recently, so what you say may prove the same for me. I did like Robinton... though I liked a lot of characters from that universe, so...

If I can draw another parallel to Phillip Pullman and His Dark Materials, the relationship seems similar here, with the daemons being connected to the people they're with, rather like souls. If the daemons died, the people lived a sort of half-existence that was described as nearly sub-sentient. If the people died, the daemons went automatically.

The difference between here and dragons, on the level of the link, isn't great. Lyton functions well enough, but he's wrought with depression at the same time. He's not whole, and there are ready comparisons in other sci-fi/fantasy, such as Frodo (his Witch-King wound, as well as the obvious link with the Ring which was both ultimately destructive and yet fully binding). The wound goes beyond the external. And in the case of Moretta... it's final.

(I haven't read the recent couple of Pern novels anyway, but I don't remember Lyton getting a dragon either.)

To tie it back into the topic... I don't think that the degree to which the movie borrowed should be unexpected, or from a particular place. Sometimes people write about other people that are really close to a certain figure. And so the psychic link, to the point of a bound mortality, is one way of saying, "These two - yes. It's destined. They are mutually (and in the case of the ring, parasitically) invested."

[Aquaignis]

Yeah, I really wonder where NextGenerationLunarFan got that from. Unless he's referring to Eragon rather than Pern?

From here

...the movie reminded me way too much of the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery. I'm waiting to hear about the lawsuit.

Telepathic dragons? Rider living if dragon dies but not visa versa? I was waiting for the Thread to start falling and F'lar to jump to the Dawn Sisters.

Jenner was implying that all of those facts related to Eragon.

[Jenner]

I can't remember, I thought Lyton got ANOTHER Dragon, I remember them encouraging him to go out into the Weyr and try to impress another one, maybe he flipped out instead? It has been a long time but I really need to read it again, it was my favorite series as a child and she was my favorite childhood author.

( The boy who committed suicide ran himself into the thread intentionally. I remember this, because it horrified F'lessan or F'lar. I'm almost sure of it. )

My memory is so very out of it. I think I'm gonna move this into a different thread guys. We've railroaded with our nerdity!

[GhaleonOne]

Just a note: This came out on DVD this past week. I picked up the extended edition and watched the deleted scenes. Now I haven't read the books, but there were some scenes that I thought would have been fine to leave in the movie. Especially since it was somewhat short to begin with. Just thought I'd mention for the Eragon faithful out there, in case they wanted to rent/buy it to check out the extra scenes. They're mainly during the beginning and the ending.

[Guild_Premier_Ghaleon]

The only thing I can possibly add to this... Who makes John Malkovich a fricken villain? Doesnt work people, just doesnt work...