DVD Review - “Eragon”
GRADE: B-
“Eragon” is an innocent and fun enough fantasy teeny-bopper movie, but it lacks the grit and believable fantasy elements that made the “Lord of the Rings” such a great franchise. I call this movie “LOTR-light” or “LOTR 90210″. I don’t want to dump too much on this movie, it has it’s moments. The movie is filmed great and looks pretty, and has some great aerial shots with the dragon. I also thought the cast was top notch and the acting was pretty good for a family film.
The movie loses steam for me when Saphira the dragon talks, or “mind reads”. Having Rachel Weizs voice the thoughts of Saphira just didn’t work for me. I never read the book but find the premise of dragon riders and mind reading dragons a little corny. I am a sucker for a great dragon movie though. “Dragonslayer” is the best of the genre, followed closely by “Dragonheart” and “The Neverending Story”. But like I said before, this is a family film aimed at teenagers, and it worked on that level. Although I am sure that teenage boys would have loved a little more action, I know I did.
This movie didn’t do as well as many thought it would have when it was released this past holiday season. And by the looks of the ending of this film, and by original production talks there is at least 2 sequels in the works. The children’s books end after 3 books, but after the disappointing audience response from “Eragon” will the studio risk putting out 2 more? I hope the next 2 stories have some more action and a more thought out storyline. This was a good enough DVD rental, but I was left feeling like it could have been better. Much better.
Leave a Reply