Eragon
Director: Stefen Fangmeier
Cast: Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, John Malkovich, Rachel Weisz
Dragon movies haven't been too successful in the past, apart from ENTER THE DRAGON. From PETE'S DRAGON to REIGN OF FIRE to DRAGONHEART, and many more in between, the public have not been enamoured by these fantastic beasts. Although chasing the dragon has always been popular with Hollywood, fantasy films were always a hard sell for the studios, or at least until THE LORD OF THE RINGS gave them new credibility and marketability.
The trouble with the fantasy genre is there is so much badly written and clichéd material out there. That doesn't mean it has a monopoly on tat, as all genres have their fair share of poor storytelling and substandard writing, but fantasy has even more stigma attached to it than sci-fi, with which it is invariably grouped. Most publishers specify in their submissions guidelines, "No fantasy or sci-fi", just to avoid being inundated with the aforementioned, badly scribed manuscripts that are invariably written by young men producing Lord of the Rings clones. Of course, this does mean that in their blanket denial of the genre the publishers miss out on some huge best-sellers, Harry Potter being a case in point. This is also true for Christopher Paolini's Eragon, penned when he was a teenager, and self-published until it was picked up by Knopf, where it went on to sell millions worldwide.
It is a tale of despots and the fall of the dragon-riders. Eragon (Ed Speleers) is a teenage orphan (why do fictional heroes never come from normal, well-adjusted nuclear families?), who lives with his uncle under the tyrannical reign of Galbatorix (John Malkovich) and his enforcer, Durza (Robert Carlyle). A rock is stolen from Galbatorix by Arya (Sienna Guillory), who is hunted down Durza. As she is caught, she magically sends the rock to another place where it is found by Eragon. It turns out the rock is a dragon egg, which promptly hatches, making Eragon Durza's new target. Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, are taken under the wing (so to speak) of Brom (Jeremy Irons), an old dragonrider, as they go to seek out the Varden (a sort of Rebel Alliance).
I've not read the novel because I am not a huge fan of fantasy literature, and because I find so little time to read that I become very selective about what I choose. Seeing the ERAGON movie was my first introduction to the characters and plot, so I had no way judging how faithful it is to the book, which is probably a good thing. However, I suspect it is fairly close because the story does come across as if it was written by a teenager, and I hope my opinion wasn't clouded by the knowledge that it was.
Having said that, the movie is clearly aimed at a teenage audience that enjoyed THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the escape into fantasy realms these films offer. However, I wouldn't call it a family film, in the way that Pixar animations are. ERAGON doesn't really offer enough to keep the adults engrossed. That is not to say that visuals aren't stunning. The dragon is beautifully realised and believable, for a CGI character, which is further helped by Rachel Weisz's voice over characterisation. As she is a pivotal character this is very important. The battle scenes were well-orchestrated and used real people instead of CGI armies, but it was simply another fantasy battle scene that resembles Helm's Deep meets the Triwizard Tournament.
The main interest, especially among teenage girls, is the lead role played by Ed Speleers. He does a commendable job, delivering the often clichéd dialogue, as do the other actors. Malkovich camps it up as the evil ruler and Carlyle seems to be having fun as the heavily made up Durza. In fact he called his role, "playing, not acting".
Whether it falls under the curse of the dragon movies we will see in the coming weeks, but with plenty of eye-candy and plenty of action, along with impressive, and seamless, special effects it will certainly keep the under-twenties entertained during the holidays. And it may even appeal to older fans of LOTR, but Jackson's trilogy is a hard act to follow.
ERAGON is in cinemas from December 15
Visit official site
View trailer here.
Cast: Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, John Malkovich, Rachel Weisz
Dragon movies haven't been too successful in the past, apart from ENTER THE DRAGON. From PETE'S DRAGON to REIGN OF FIRE to DRAGONHEART, and many more in between, the public have not been enamoured by these fantastic beasts. Although chasing the dragon has always been popular with Hollywood, fantasy films were always a hard sell for the studios, or at least until THE LORD OF THE RINGS gave them new credibility and marketability.
The trouble with the fantasy genre is there is so much badly written and clichéd material out there. That doesn't mean it has a monopoly on tat, as all genres have their fair share of poor storytelling and substandard writing, but fantasy has even more stigma attached to it than sci-fi, with which it is invariably grouped. Most publishers specify in their submissions guidelines, "No fantasy or sci-fi", just to avoid being inundated with the aforementioned, badly scribed manuscripts that are invariably written by young men producing Lord of the Rings clones. Of course, this does mean that in their blanket denial of the genre the publishers miss out on some huge best-sellers, Harry Potter being a case in point. This is also true for Christopher Paolini's Eragon, penned when he was a teenager, and self-published until it was picked up by Knopf, where it went on to sell millions worldwide.
It is a tale of despots and the fall of the dragon-riders. Eragon (Ed Speleers) is a teenage orphan (why do fictional heroes never come from normal, well-adjusted nuclear families?), who lives with his uncle under the tyrannical reign of Galbatorix (John Malkovich) and his enforcer, Durza (Robert Carlyle). A rock is stolen from Galbatorix by Arya (Sienna Guillory), who is hunted down Durza. As she is caught, she magically sends the rock to another place where it is found by Eragon. It turns out the rock is a dragon egg, which promptly hatches, making Eragon Durza's new target. Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, are taken under the wing (so to speak) of Brom (Jeremy Irons), an old dragonrider, as they go to seek out the Varden (a sort of Rebel Alliance).
I've not read the novel because I am not a huge fan of fantasy literature, and because I find so little time to read that I become very selective about what I choose. Seeing the ERAGON movie was my first introduction to the characters and plot, so I had no way judging how faithful it is to the book, which is probably a good thing. However, I suspect it is fairly close because the story does come across as if it was written by a teenager, and I hope my opinion wasn't clouded by the knowledge that it was.
Having said that, the movie is clearly aimed at a teenage audience that enjoyed THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the escape into fantasy realms these films offer. However, I wouldn't call it a family film, in the way that Pixar animations are. ERAGON doesn't really offer enough to keep the adults engrossed. That is not to say that visuals aren't stunning. The dragon is beautifully realised and believable, for a CGI character, which is further helped by Rachel Weisz's voice over characterisation. As she is a pivotal character this is very important. The battle scenes were well-orchestrated and used real people instead of CGI armies, but it was simply another fantasy battle scene that resembles Helm's Deep meets the Triwizard Tournament.
The main interest, especially among teenage girls, is the lead role played by Ed Speleers. He does a commendable job, delivering the often clichéd dialogue, as do the other actors. Malkovich camps it up as the evil ruler and Carlyle seems to be having fun as the heavily made up Durza. In fact he called his role, "playing, not acting".
Whether it falls under the curse of the dragon movies we will see in the coming weeks, but with plenty of eye-candy and plenty of action, along with impressive, and seamless, special effects it will certainly keep the under-twenties entertained during the holidays. And it may even appeal to older fans of LOTR, but Jackson's trilogy is a hard act to follow.
ERAGON is in cinemas from December 15
Visit official site
View trailer here.
posted by Chris Patmore at 1:29 PM
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