Eragon - movie/book spoilers

Overall the movie was fun and I enjoyed it because I'm such a dragon freak :o ... however...

First I must say it's been a over a year since I read Eragon. I remembered the basic plot and few parts here and there and I meant to re-read it but just didn't get around to it. I was told a few minutes before the movie started that most critisism came from those that read the book, so in a way I'm glad I hadn't re-read it so recently....


SPOILERS!!!










The movie was rushed. Way rushed. LOTR spoiled me. I was hoping for a longer movie.

The first thing that stood out and irked me was that Saphira named herself (hello Pern like much?) - why they couldn't of kept this part true to the book is beyond me. Simply put for those that haven't read the book, Brom was sharing dragonrider history with Eragon and listed off a bunch of dragon names, ending quietly with Saphira. Eragon did not know at this point in time that Brom had been a dragonrider and his dragon was named Saphira. Eragon felt Saphira fit and named her thusly. This pained Brom at first but if I recall correctly led to him opening up about his past.

So things I disliked...

Since they rushed the movie, they did not properly show Eragon's training with Brom, nor bring up the heritage around Eragon's name, nor show his training with Arya and the Varden before the bad guys attacked. So unlike the book where he had some decent training (even if he wasn't the world's greatest dragonrider), he was still shown to be somewhat prepared for the final battle in the book vs. in the movie where he's just tossed armor and told good luck. :\

The final battle had the star sapphire omitted all together and in fact is totally different from the book.

Characters I feel were important were omitted, like the Twins, Angela, and Solembum the werecat.

Eragon's relationship with Murtagh was barely touched upon. Again with the rushing of the events.

Things I liked..

Saphira, Saphira, SAPHIRA! Okay maybe I'm bias since I love dragons, but they did a GORGEOUS job of animating her. And baby Saphira? I nearly died from the cute.

Not to mention she was voiced by Rachel Weisz, something I did not know until the opening credits and I about squeed with delight.

I could add more but I'm a bit rushed for time.

Would I see it again? Probably. Will definitely buy it when it comes out on DVD.

And I should add that I saw it with 4 people that never read the book and they enjoyed it immensely. So if you are a die hard fan of the book, you may be disappointed.



I haven't read Eldest yet, but just flipping through Eragon tonight it's pretty clear I'll need to re-read it before I move on to book 2.

A little OT aside.... I don't know if the trailers are the same for every theater, but we got to see the Shrek 3, TMNT, Evan Almighty, Epic Movie, and Meet the Robinsons trailers and I was laughing so hard, my side hurt. That has not happened in a LONG time. So if you're lucky, you'll see those trailers.

Definitely plan to see those movies.

I agree except Angela wasn't the werecat. Angela was the herbalist/seer and the werecat was, in cat form, her "pet". They strayed much too far from the book IMO, because like you said they left out a LOT of key parts. If you hadn't read the book you'll probably like it, but after reading the book I felt it was much too rushed to tell a proper story, such as how Murtagh even entered the picture, and they left out how Eragon was injured by Durza, which is a large key to the whole story in the second book, Eldest.

I'm guessing they will wait until the third book to make the second movie, although with three books I wish they had taken the time to do it right and done it like LOTR, which was a lot closer to the actual story than this was. I don't mind movies varying from the story, but this one was a bit too far off, and even then wouldn't have been so bad except like you said Kimmy, it was just too rushed.

Was an okay movie, a bit disappointed, but I have read both books so it was a bit of a let down to me, although definitely not the worst movie I've seen.

D'oh! You're right. Solembum was the werecat. :)

Its been a while since i read the book but I've remembered most of it. It wasn't so bad though. Other than the fact that the ending was a little different It was ok. The book was better though! :p