Enter the Eragon

[Shadow]

How about authors that take a good idea and unnecessarily stretch it out to hideous lengths in order to generate more income:
Robert Jordan
Terry Goodkind
Janny Wurts
 

I like to read a book series once it is finished, thus I have been waiting years to read Jordan's Wheel of Time. He is finally writing the last book, but with him now suffering from some rare blood disease (which has no cure) I wonder if he'll live long enough to complete it.

[Zapranoth]

Add Piers Anthony to that list.

Thanks... I can now avoid Eragon, and watch something that is, you know, BAD.   

[D-Man]

I'm a sucker for anything that features mythological creatures, dragons in particular, ever since I first saw most of Ray Harryhausen's movies when I was a kid.  But I'm not going to see this one...for pretty much the same reason I avoided "Reign of Fire"...just as the latter tried to sell Matthew Mconaughey as an action hero, Eragon is trying to convince us that John Malkovich can make a good head villain. 

Among all the mythological creatures that have appeared in film, Dragons have always gotten the shaft.  In the past they were nothing but evil characters, and even now when some of them are good, they usually play second fiddle.  You can make a case for Dragonheart, but still, Dennis Quaid was the main character in that one. 

Look at it this way...Unicorns get saved by Tom Cruise, mermaids get to swim off with Tom Hanks, and even evil Leprechauns get to enjoy multiple sequels  ...Sure, the Dragon in Shrek ended up with Donkey, but her screen time was virtually non-existant, especially in the second film. 

And it seems that Eragon is continuing this trend, which is a shame, because I've heard that Rachael Weisz's voice work for the dragon is the lone bright spot for this movie. 

[Andrew]

Given enough fans and time, most fantasy authors seem to stretch things out to the extreme.  Consider Eddings and Brooks.  I very much enjoy the first three Shannara books, along with Eddings Belgariad and Malloreon series.  Trying to read some of their latest work has made me actually work to read a book - not good.

Jordan's padding of his storyline is so crazy as to be a joke.  I often refer to them as the Dragonball of the fantasy world.  If he had kept the series focused, I think it would be a favorite of mine.  Instead, we are up to something like twelve books, when I think it should have been resolved six novels ago.

Amusingly, one of my favorite classic scifi/fantasy series falls into this same trap.  Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote too many Barsoom books.

[Derf]

And it seems that Eragon is continuing this trend, which is a shame, because I've heard that Rachael Weisz's voice work for the dragon is the lone bright spot for this movie. 

I'd forgotten to mention this in my commentary; I hated the dragon's voice. It sounded exactly like the producers were able to get a (kind of) big name actress on board to add to the star power of the movie. The voice, to my way of thinking, should have had a quality of resonant majesty (a bit of an aristocratic tone with possibly a bit of reverb added to enhance the enormity of the dragon); Weisz's voice has a flat and decidedly dead quality. She may be a good enough actress to appear on screen (I've enjoyed her in her other movies), but she doesn't have the experience to make a good voice-only actress. I don't mean to belittle her ability; I just think that the casting director for this movie should have gone with a voice actor rather than a screen actor; there is a difference. Some people can pull off both; most cannot.

So have I made it clear yet that I didn't particularly care for this movie? 

[Shadow]

I very much enjoy the first three Shannara books, along with Eddings Belgariad and Malloreon series.  Trying to read some of their latest work has made me actually work to read a book - not good.

I think Eddings has reached his creative pinnacle. The Belgariad and Mallorean were great. The Sparhawk books were ok, but it seems everything since then has been retelling the same basic story, only with different names and locations.

I haven't even picked up a Shannara book since...the final book in the "Scions" series. I used to love epic fantasy, but have not read such a book in ages.

[Newt]

My 17 y.o. son has read the book.  (It was recommended by a friend.)  HE says it is derivative, immature and painfully cliched.  (He took a 'writer's craft' course for grade 11 English AND he has read Orson Scott Card's book on writing SF...so he does have some idea. He says the book had all the typical weaknesses listed by Card.)

But the family probably will go see the movie.  The kids are into dragons after all.

[Jim H]

My 17 y.o. son has read the book.  (It was recommended by a friend.)  HE says it is derivative, immature and painfully cliched.  (He took a 'writer's craft' course for grade 11 English AND he has read Orson Scott Card's book on writing SF...so he does have some idea. He says the book had all the typical weaknesses listed by Card.)

But the family probably will go see the movie.  The kids are into dragons after all.

I haven't read Card's advice to writers book (seen it at the library though, might give it a look), but considering how painfully bad the final entry in the Ender's Game series is, and how many mistakes he made with it, I'm not so sure his advice is really that useful.  Maybe he uses Children of the Mind as an example of what NOT to do?

It's amazing that he wrote Children of the Mind, considering how stunning Ender's Game is.  I'm amazed they're by the same author.

[Bill C.]

...But I'm not going to see this one...for pretty much the same reason I avoided "Reign of Fire"...just as the latter tried to sell Matthew Mconaughey as an action hero, Eragon is trying to convince us that John Malkovich can make a good head villain.

In The Line Of Fire proved he's got the chops to hang, IMHO, but hey.  Me, I kindasorta want to see Eragon, but the general consensus seems to be that it's a massive trainwreck on celluloid.

[CoreyHeldpen]

I faced the beast known as ERAGON this afternoon. And here's what I think:

-What exactly is Rachel Weisz's Accent? The accent she gives Saphira the Dragon seems to switch between Scottish and British. There was even once I swear it sounded Irish. Also, was Rachel Weisz really the best choice for the voice of a dragon? She sounded a tad too gentle and motherly for such an aggressive creature. And let's not forget that the Saphira is the film's most likable character.

-If your fantasy movie doesn't take place in modern times, there should NOT be a pop song in the end credits. ERAGON does not follow this rule and confused me about what film I just watched for a second when the credits roll and the country gutair comes in.

-So the bald warrior bad guys can easily be killed by a seventeen-year-old boy and an elderly man, and yet several fit, middle-aged men pose little challenge to them? That's what I like to call the "Orc Effect".

-When filming someone jump into a pool of water, don't do it in slow motion or the audience will laugh. I laughed, at least.

-Those mummy guys covered in maggots and bugs sorta looked like the Predator in distance shots.

-One more thing about Saphira: I thought her voice kind of sounded like the lead singer of the Cranberries. There was more than one occasion when I half-expected her to burst out singing "Zombie"
"Another Mother something something something something..." Sorry, I don't know the song very well.

Overall, I guess it wasn't such a bad movie. Thing is, it wasn't so good, either.

[Zapranoth]

Weighing in waaaaaayyy late, we just watched Eragon tonight.  Rented it for $1 from one o' those cube machines in the grocery store.

It was okay.  It was cliche' and stamped-out, but decent pace, CG, etc.   It had a seriously fast-forwarded feeling, and since I haven't read the books I figured major chopping out of detail was done.

I mean, it wasn't as bad as Dragonheart was.  =)

I better watch it, starting out those comparatives here.

Next on the block:  Spider-Man 3, No Country for Old Men, and Evolution.

[InspectorDC]

I liked the part when the bad guy had just mortally wounded Jeremy Irons and says something to the effect of "You'll have to do that", and then the hero immediately shoots him in the head with an arrow. If only the bad guy had been killed by that the film would have had a better ending.

Rarely do you see a film as by the numbers as this one, whoever wrote and directed this thing must be more or less total hacks.

[akiratubo]

Do you know what I really, really hated the most about Eragon?  (Aside from the whole, "Galbatorix is evil because ... uh ... Eragon and the terroristsrebels are the good guys because ... uh ..." thing.)

That scene, that very last scene at the end, when Galbatorix reveals that he has AN ENORMOUS DRAGON OF HIS OWN.  He could gone out on the damn thing to kill Eragon and Sapphira and been done with it in about an hour or so.

[Newt]

Somebody should have read the Evil Overlord List:
"40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve."
But I suppose that would tend to make for much shorter movies.

[Neville]

I watched it on theatre. Bad idea. I'm not exactly among those who like to wear in Star Wars costumes and hail George Lucas for his talent (I think he is an OK writer and a bad film director), but watching this ridiculous remake of "A new hope" I couldn't but silently pray for Lucas to sue these guys, and to finally accept that as lame as "A new hope" seems to me (it's my least favourite SW film) it can be done much, much worse.

I'll give them just one credit, though: Sienna Guillory is sexier than Carrie Fisher.