Eragon (2006)

Horrible
Just read the other one stars, I don't have time to list all the bad things about this movie.

what could have been.
he said he wrote his books so they could be movies. well i have never seen a good book get butcherd more than this, it's hard to put into words how bad this movie has re-ritten the entire story. i think the only things that were simular were the chericter names because what they did wasn't even simular to the book. save your money and buy anything else.

"Eragon": The Good and the Bad
The highly anticipated 2006 film "Eragon" was, for most, a strong disappointment. Based upon the first book written by the young author Christopher Paolini in 2003, "Eragon" is about a teenager named Eragon (played by Edward Speleers) in a fictional kingdom named Alagaësia. While hunting one day, he finds what turns out to be a dragon egg. The egg hatches revealing a young dragon inside that quickly grows into a powerful winged animal. Named Saphira (voice of Rachel Weisz), the dragon and its chosen rider, Eragon, are bound to each other for life. Of course, someone didn't want the dragon to be born nor find a rider. That someone is Alagaësia's evil king named Galbatorix (John Malkovich) who is assisted by an equally evil wizard named Durza (Robert Carlyle). Once, the skies over Alagaësia had been filled with dragons and dragon-riders, including Galbatorix; but he was successful in destroying virtually all of them. However, one dragon-rider from an earlier time had survived: Brom (Jeremy Irons), who becomes Eragon's mentor. And, who had dropped the egg in the forest that allowed Eragon to find it? A princess named Arya (Sienna Guillory).

Though the plot & characters sound interesting, they bear a strong resemblance to other works that predate "Eragon": namely, "Star Wars" and "The Lord of the Rings". Being a long time fan of "Star Wars" myself, one cannot help but notice the strong similarities between Eragon and Luke Skywalker, Brom and Obi-wan Kenobi, Arya and Princess Leia, Galbatorix and Emperor Palpatine, Durza and Darth Vader, as well as Murtagh (Garrett Hedlund) and Han Solo. As Han Solo in the original 1977 "Star Wars" comes to Luke's rescue in the nick of time, so does Murtagh come to Eragon's rescue in one crucial scene. Further, the whole dragon and magic-wielding dragon-rider past of Alagaësia is very similar to the days of the Republic in "Star Wars" that was guarded by the Force-wielding Jedi. As for the similarities with "Lord of the Rings", as in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic work, the world of "Eragon" is a world of magic, sorcerers, elves, dwarves and an Elvish language. Thus, with the release of "Eragon" in 2006 being only 1 year after "Star Wars III" was released and 3 years after the release of the last of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, one has to wonder whether "Eragon" was an attempt to cash in on the success of these previous works by using similar plot & character elements. With an estimated budget of $100-million and an approximate net gross of $75-million four months after the film's release, "Eragon" was a box-office failure.

One more aspect to examine in "Eragon" is the film's director: Stefen Fangmeier. A long-time special affects artist who worked on films such as "Terminator 2" (1991), "Hook" (1991), "Twister" (1996), "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), "Galaxy Quest" (1999), "The Perfect Storm" (2000), and "Master and Commander" (2003), his first solo directorial work was "Eragon". While the special effects in "Eragon" were great (like so many other dragon-based films that predate it), the story (as I have already pointed out) was nothing new. Hence, my rating for "Eragon" is 3 out of 5 stars.