Movie Notes: Eragon
= 1 star
Starring Edward Speleers, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich
Directed by Stefen Fangmeier
Eragon is a kid’s flick, based on a children’s book. Like many modern films, the CGI special effects and the story are decent, but almost everything else fails horribly. For starters, the look is shamelessly derivative of The Lord of The Rings trilogy. There are evil assassins that look much like orcs or Nazgul, and even the actress cast as the elf lady (Sienna Guillory) is a poor hybrid of Cate Blanchette and Liv Tyler. The main magician baddie Durza looks like Grima Wormtongue, and there’s even a scene where he commands a vast army from up above that if there was any justice, would evoke a WETA lawsuit.
The plot echoes Star Wars through boy destined to be a dragon rider, his family is killed by bad guys early on, and wise mentor Brom (Jeremy Irons) guides his first steps, and dies along the way.
Then add to this derivative mix John Malkovich as the evil king Galbatorix, doing ans unintentionally funny Malkovich thing. Jeremy Irons fares better but his aforementioned death saps what little dramatic gravity existed.
A decent payoff never arrives, since they exist in future books. Eragon never battles Galbatorix, or talks to the CGI dragon voiced by Rachel Weisz (also unintentionally funny). Those scenes must wait for the unlikely-to-be-made sequels.
The film’s failings are somewhat forgivable of kid’s fare, but why not watch The Lord of The Rings, Star Wars, or even the Harry Potter flicks.
IMDB: Eragon
Wikipedia: Eragon
Rotten Tomatoes: Eragon 16%