You know how I almost always have good things to say about movies and books and whatnot. I hate negative comments about things I like. However last night Allison and I saw Eragon and we were both very disappointed. We both loved listening to the book on CD and were disappointed on how the movie was thrown together.

He Said:

What Drew Liked:
I loved how Saphira looked, she was very much like the cover art on the book. I liked Jeremy Irons as Brom. He was a very good character choice, wish we got to see more of that. Ed Speleers as Eragon was also a good choice. I liked the flying scenes. The beginning wasn’t that bad because the lives of Garrow, Roran and Eragon are highlighted and you see how Roran and Eragon are like two brothers and Garrow loves them very much.

What Drew Didn’t Like:
The pace of the movie was so fast that no character development was established. When Brom dies we have not seen the mentor and apprentice bond or train together. Training, there was absolutely no training, Brom and Eragon have one fight by the stream and Brom espouses the dangers and lessons of magic. The story was so different from the book that it was distracting to watch. I had a hard time separating from what I knew of the story and what was being rammed through my senses. Characters were not introduced, Roran just leaves, nothing about being an apprentice miller and doing that so he could earn money to marry his sweetheart Katrina. We never even meet Katrina. Horst was cast terribly, he looked like a worn out old man not the robust blacksmith that was imposing. Not what I pictured for Horst at all. So much was terrible and rushed. There needed to be some sort of 80’s-like training montage because Eragon goes from a skilled hunter to a fierce warrior in basically a day and a half. And are we to believe that Saphira grew just by flying in the air because no time was established for that at all. She grew so incredibly fast. This movie was so very disappointing and I feel cheated for being so excited for the movie.

She said:

What Allison Liked:
The animation of Saphira was amazing. She was soo cute when she first hatched. The scenery was incredible! I really liked Ed Speelers as Eragon and Jeremy Irons as Brom.

What Allison Didn’t Like:
The incredible lack of character development! The lack of discernible time frames – it seemed like Saphira grew up in one day and that it took an afternoon for Brom and Eragon to complete their travels and that the preparations in Alagaesia took a couple of hours. It was all so rushed. I think that fans would have been more than willing to sit through two and a half to three hours for this movie to be done well. There was so much that was cut out of this movie from the book – I understand, you can only do so much in the time that you have, but I really felt like they cut out some important information for no real reason. It was pretty disappointing.