Eragon – Waste Of Money

I realise that cinematic adaptations of novels are merely that – adaptations, so you come to expect certain degrees of difference between the source (the novel) and the derivative product (the film).
In the case of Eragon, however, the film could best be described as “inspired by”, as it couldn’t possibly have been based on Paolini’s first novel, or if it was then a lot of it ended up on the cutting room floor.
In the novel there is character development. While it may not be possible to transpose all the subtleties of characters’ thoughts and emotions to the big screen you would have expected them to at least have made an effort.
The core of the novel is the relationship between the main character, Eragon, and his dragon, Saphira. Whereas in the book you come to have an understanding of who Eragon is the film presents a very flat character. Saphira suffers an equal treatment.
The original book features a dragon that grows from being very small to being quite large over a reasonable period of time – while I can appreciate the director’s desire to speed things up a bit it was really annoying to see the baby dragon turn into a full grown one in the space of about two minutes! Yes, I know it’s fantasy, but even fantasy has to be vaguely plausible and that was just one of the many flaws.
I could go on, but it’s simply pointless.
If you’ve read either of Paolini’s novels then don’t ruin them renting this DVD.
On a plus side the cast aren’t that bad – it’s just the script that really really let them all down.