= 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 most everything else fails horribly. For starters, the overall look is shamelessly derivative of The Lord of The Rings trilogy. We have evil assassins that look much like orcs or Nazgul, and even the actress cast as the elf lady (Sienna Guillory) resembles a 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 film’s plot also echoes Star Wars as we have a boy who finds out he’s going to be a dragon rider. His family is killed by the bad guys early on. The wise mentor Brom (Jeremy Irons) appears to help guide him on his first steps, and he dies halfway through the movie.

On top of the derivative mix add John Malkovich as the evil king Galbatorix who does his unintentionally funny Malkovich thing. Jeremy Irons fares better but as mentioned before, he dies early on meaning the whole flick loses what little dramatic gravity it has. All the other actors are completely dull.

And what payoff the film ought to have never arrives, because there are other books written. We never get to see Malkovich confront the farm boy Eragon or talk to the CGI dragon voiced by Rachel Weisz which could have been even more unintentionally funny. For that, I suppose we’ll have to wait for sequels that will never be made, or if they are, I won’t be watching them.

The film’s failings are somewhat forgivable since this is a kids movie. But I’d honestly prefer any kid watch The Lord of The Rings, Star Wars, or even the Harry Potter flicks. Eragon is essentially a rip off, and the originals are readily available and easily accessible. Eragon is a pale copy.

IMDB: Eragon
Wikipedia: Eragon
Rotten Tomatoes: Eragon 16%

Categories: 1 Star Movies, Movies :: Tags: 1 star, Edward Speleers, Eragon, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Stefen Fangmeier :: Trackback URL
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