Review:
Today bought me to the cinemas to view one of my favourite novels-turned film – Eragon (written by Christopher Paolini). I had read the novel long ago enough to have it not cloud my views so much – however, I was still somewhat disappointed by the movie.
The movie opens with a voice-over, Lord of the Rings style, but with much lesser effect. I actually found it very annoying. It followed through to tell some of the background, and then finally we meet the elf Arya scrambling for her life, and in several minutes, we are introduced to Eragon himself.
There are several inaccuracies within the film – and die-hard novel fans would be quite disappointed, however, as a general movie goer, I also found the film lacking. It seemed like
The main problem, I think, lies in the fact that the script was quite mediocre. There wasn’t much left for the actors to work with – I found the script filled with clichéd lines – or many lines that could have been worded more realistically, but were written that way to make a for a good trailer moment. The director seemed to have tried cram a 600+ page novel into a short film, wanting to touch on everything, and leaving no time for character development. They turned Murtagh’s character into a sort of cameo, bringing down his importance, and increasing the importance of Arya. I could deal with that, however, what I found truly annoying is that in order to connect events, the director found it a good idea to have the two main characters on horses travelling. There was an unbelievable amount of shots of horses cantering across the screen in scenic landscapes. This was originally okay, but after a while, it sure got annoying.
However, I did find baby Saphira adorable. The fact that she made the transition from baby to adult in a second only disturbed me slightly.
Another thing that annoyed me were the costumes and make up for Durza, at some stage, I found the black sequins tacky, and the makeup distracting. The whole fanning-wind-in-your-face thing didn’t seem too cool either, leaving the whole look of the movie somewhat amateurish.
In conclusion, I think the younger ones would enjoy this better – and also others that aren’t so judgmental, because you would find this lacking.
Rating: 2/5 Stars
Here’s the trailer for your viewing pleasure:
