Eragon 2 Disc DVD Set Review

Produced by: Gil Netter & Chris Symes

Directed by: Stefan Fangmeier

20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Rated PG

Trying to draw on the success of the widely popular Harry Potter films, 20^th Century Fox decided to gamble on another young adult fantasy novel by releasing the film Eragon based on the novel of the same name written by Christopher Paolini. The film was a moderate success, and has been released in a two disc DVD set. Unfortunately, unlike the novel which has gained in popularity, the film Eragon leaves a lot to be desired.

Eragon follows the story of the inhabitants of a land called Alagaesia. For a thousand years the citizens of Alagaesia were protected by the Dragon Riders. That is until a power hungry Dragon Rider named Galbatorix (Malkovich) betrayed his fellow protectors murdering them and setting himself up as king and tyrant. Years pass with a resistance force relegated to hiding in the mountains waiting until the time when a new Dragon Rider will come and save the day.

After stumbling across an egg in the forest while hunting, young farm boy Eragon (Speleers) and destiny collide when he discovers he is the new Dragon Rider. With the help of Brom (Irons), Eragon comes into his own, discovering his powers, and runs off to save the princess and the freedom fighters.

Is it me, or does this plot sound eerily familiar? A powerful individual betrays and murders the other members of a special warrior class. Meanwhile a farm boy comes home after discovering he too may have power only to find his Uncle murdered. Then a wizened older man takes the farm boy under his wing teaching him about his hidden power so he can go off and fulfill a prophecy to save the land. The young boy in turn discovers his mentor is also a member of a group of fabled warriors long thought dead, and then the mentor sacrifices himself so the brash new hero can go off an save the princess. If I were George Lucas, I think I would be a little ticked off, and would want to take a closer look at this.

Eragon is Stefan Fangmeier's first attempt at directing a film, and his inexperience shows. Known more for his visual effects work, Fangmeier may want to stick with what he knows best. The script is dreadful. It is almost laughable at times seeing such highly regarded actors like Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich reciting these ridiculous lines. Actors like Robert Carlyle who plays the evil Shade Durza and Djimon Hounsou who plays the leader of the rebels Ajihad are completely wasted in this film. I think both men may want to take a closer look at the scripts they receive before signing on.

I have not read the novel, and so went into viewing the movie with little knowledge of the story, and was completely lost for the first hour. The film is choppy and jumps around so much, I could never quite get the gist of what was happening. I will say the special effects were well done, and Rachel Weisz as the voice of the dragon did a decent job. Other than that however, I cannot imagine anyone without at least some sort of working knowledge of the novel gaining anything from this movie.

The special features found in the DVD set are on the second disc. It is set up like a map of Alagaesia, and to find the different features you must select one of the towns or regions listed on the map. It is an interesting set up, but gets kind of confusing when you are looking for a specific feature. The bonuses include commentary from the director, deleted scenes and a look at the trailers for the film. There are also several featurettes that take a look at The Inheritance Trilogy of which Eragon is the fist book. There is also an interview with author Christopher Paolini who should seriously rethink letting his other novels be adapted to film.

Eragon falls into the trap of many other films taken from novels in that it is nearly impossible to take an intricate plot that takes 300-400 pages to tell and condense it down to a two hour movie. With an inexperienced director at the helm, this task becomes even more insurmountable. The script is bad; the acting is really bad especially from Edward Speleers who is almost unwatchable as the title character Eragon.It is hard for me to think even the most hard core fans of the novel liking this movie, and so I would recommend passing on Eragon, and simply waiting for the next Harry Potter film.