Eragon

Review by: Doc

The source novel for this movie was written by a teenager and has been praised as an outstanding first book. The movie follows the adventures of a young Jedi orphan living with his uncle in a kingdom ruled by an evil Emperor king. The Jedi dragonriders had ruled this land peacefully for ages when one of their members turned evil and killed the others, proclaiming himself king. He now rules with the aid of an evil Sith Lord sorcerer.


The (Rebellion) freedom fighters in the kingdom steal a dragon’s egg, and magically project it into the forest where the young orphan finds it, thinking it a stone. It hatches into a (Force) young dragon that imprints on the young boy, telepathically linking to the boy as its “rider”. He seeks the aid of an old curmudgeon in his village, (Obiwon) Brom played by Jeremy Irons. Irons seems to be the only character who didn’t just call it in, almost redeeming part of the movie with his performance. He seems to know more about the (Jedi) dragon riders than an old beggar should. Does the plot sound familiar? Take Star Wars (Episode 4 now), change the Force to a dragon, and add the special effects of The Lord of the Rings, and you have Eragon.


The plot is predicable in the extreme, the acting is wooden for the most part, and the dialogue is so stiff that I was making MST3K smart remarks to my son for most of the movie, quietly of course.


What’s good? The CGI of the dragon and the final battle make this one of those movies that you want to rent on dollar night and watch the final scenes with the chapter select buttons. I give it one of five scalpels for the special effects and a dragon-singed phalanx down.



Doc Hollywood

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