Review of Eragon (2006) by Keenan S — 11 Oct 2012

Yes, Eragon is a very cliched fantasy film that basically takes Star Wars, places it into The Lord of the Rings, and then adds some dragons for good measure. Everything about the plot follows a familiar framework.

A farm boy finds a stone that turns out to be a dragon egg, which forever changes his future. There's an also an evil empire ruled by Galbatorix, who destroyed the dragon riders (The Jedis of this film), who wants to find the dragon and kill Eragon.

It's also got elves, a wise old mentor, a mysterious rogue, yadda yadda yadda. You know exactly how it all plays out. And you know what? I still really enjoy this film. So much so, that my fondness for it has actually grown over the years.

It's basically a cinematic version of comfort food to me that I could watch multiple times and never really tire of doing so. It's a fun, dopey, and thoroughly predictable film - an enjoyable guilty pleasure.

It's got fun action scenes, enjoyably cheesy acting (Jeremy Irons as Brom and Robert Carlyle as Durza in particular are enjoyable. Plus, it's hilarious how John Malkovich makes no attempt at any sort of accent.

The accents in this film are odd, to say the least for a fantasy striving to spoken with British accents). Eragon is not really a film I'd recommend unless you're a sucker for cheesy nonsense like I am.

I found it pure fun from beginning to end and it will always have a weird special place in my heart.