Review of 2006's Epic Fantasy Film, Eragon

A farm boy finds a dragon's egg which leads him on a journey where he discovers that he's a dragon rider and the one person who can defend his home against an evil king who killed off most dragon riders.

When I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought that the dragon looked really fake with CGI. Upon seeing the movie, I couldn't help but compare it to Lord of the Rings, by far a much better movie in every way. I forever christen Eragon as what Lord of the Rings would have been like if it had been done as a TV movie rather than a big-screen movie. The budget was larger but felt lower, mostly unknowns for many of the parts and a weaker story overall. This is not to say that this movie is a total washout or that you should skip it because it does have its positives. It is a little entertaining and readers of the book by Christopher Paolini might like it more. Having not read the book, I can not judge it as a comparison adaptation of the book but, knowing how most movies are, I highly doubt that this movie did the book justice. It feels like a watered-down action movie with a fantasy background.

As it stands in the movie, the story is not original at all. I've seen it done a dozen times, where the hero of the story was destined to be just that, legend turned real. If anyone has read Robert Jordan's wheel of Time series, you will know that in that series, the hero is a young farm boy who becomes the hero of legend, just like Eragon. Really, the only difference is that Eragon flies on a dragon. I'm guessing that the dragon riders are a lot cooler in the book because here it is rather boring, to me at least. The basic story here is easy to follow but not very mysterious or intriguing. It's definitely predictable which was rather boring too.

The story is very rushed, with major turning points occurring in the story almost instantaneously without any easing into the changes which probably are supposed to be occurring over long durations of time. I really don't like that shortcoming of the writing.