Eragon: Movie Review

There are many movies based on books. In some, the movies are better than the books (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars etc.). In some, the books are better than the movies ( Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code etc.). Eragon belongs to the former. I read the book a year back and I didn't remember the story exactly, but what I' m sure I remembered was how much of a drag the book was. I couldn't get through its pages quickly even with the story going very very slow. It was a little predictable too, with the hero turning out to be the villain's son, the never-before-tried concept of "good against evil" etc. Christopher Paolini has tried something in the lines of J.R.R.Tolkein, inventing Elvish languages, drawing maps of the places in the appendices, but with a far simpler storyline than the Lord of the Rings, these looked like desperate attempts to make people appreciate his efforts.

So this simple storyline with scopes for some dramatic scenes was exactly what the director needed for expanding his creativity in the fields of visual effects and stunts. The best visual effect in the movie was the dragon Saphira, which was reproduced exactly as it was illustrated in the book, and Rachel Weisz 's voice suited her perfectly. The stunts performed on the dragons where astounding. The baby dragon was the cutest depiction of a dragon in any hollywood movie. The other thing that perfectly matched with the book's description was the Shade both in casting and make-up. The dragon-riding sequence and the final fight, were worth watching second time. Overall the movie was much better and fast-paced with graphics and screenplay than its paper twin and definitely worth a watch.

P.S. If there's anything I wish to be in my life after this, it's a Dragon-Rider. Imagine a pet, which loves u, can talk only to you, takes you on an air-ride whenever you want, helps you do magic, breathes fire on your enemies, fights for you and is literally ready to die to help you live. What more could a guy want?