Review of Eragon (2006) by Dylan D — 18 Jan 2014

Eragon may simply be a case where, to quote the old adage, "the book was better." But a young author like Paolini, for all his gifts, is probably not yet at the level of a Tolkien, able to utilize the long, vaunted history of myth and legend in a facile enough manner to craft anything really innovative and fresh.

There's an element of staleness that undercuts Eragon, despite its attempts at grandeur and larger than life heroics. This is nonetheless a very pretty film, with some stunning location footage in Hungary and Slovokia, and Jeremy Irons is appropriately crusty and fun to watch.

Younger children will probably be nonjudgmental enough to simply enjoy Eragon for the "wonder" of Saphira and Eragon's exciting battle scenes (though very young children will probably be disturbed by Robert Carlyle's Durza if not John Malkovich's evil king).