Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4215 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-04-16
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Customer Reviews

Well I like it!
I bought this DVD in spite of the reviews and actually I like it! I've watched it many times and still like it. If you want to spend some time in a world of Dragons and their riders then buy it and make your own mind up. Maybe this film has been compared with the likes of the Lord of the Rings unfairly as I definately would NOT show any of those films to my young kids, but I would be able to let them watch this one without worry of them having nightmares. Watch it and make you own mind up...

OK, so it's not Lord of the Rings, but.....
Let's face it, no other fantasy film will *ever* match that trilogy. As another reviewer has said, Peter Jackson set the bench mark, and it will have to be some jaw-dropping film to top his achievements, but it's honestly not as dire as some reviewers have suggested. My eleven-year-old niece and nephew loved the baby dragon, and liked her even more when she grew up. Robert Carlyle was seriously disturbing, and if the battle scenes don't possess the hack and slash and gore of LOTR, well what can? Give it a try on a wet Sunday afternoon when the children are driving you mad

To paraphrase the script -one part inspiration to three parts foolishness
Eragon , adapted from the book by Christopher Paolini, feels so much like a precursor to a franchise that it becomes abundantly clear that the filmmakers and producers were more interested in setting up this premise than they were in making a film worthy of the concept. The trouble with this of course is that if the first film of a franchise is a complete dud then it kills the franchise completely . What a mistake to make.
It's also clear that the original source novel -I haven't read it by the way- has borrowed extensively from "Lord Of the Rings" and "Star Wars" , to such a degree though ,that it impinges on your enjoyment as you constantly spot references and plot points that hark back to them.
It might have still worked if they had got vital components of the film right but they have seriously erred in so many critical areas Eragon was doomed to never really take flight. Eragon played by Ed Speleers is blond and cute -maybe too cute - but the lad cannot act . Not one thing he does convinces , he even looked awkward walking and if you are out emoted by a CGI dragon then you might as well start circulating your CV around the local hyper markets because you ain,t going to be working in a film again anytime soon. Talking of the dragon . "Saphira" is not a dragon. She is a flying squirrel with an eczema problem. Plus she is voiced by Rachel Weisz which means she is about as terrifying as a Yorkshire terrier .You get the feeling the makers of Eragon , if they had made Star Wars ( the more waggish will say they effectively have) would have had Darth Vader voiced by Joanna Lumley instead of James Earl Jones .Or maybe they'd have stuck with Dave Prowse .
The plot is lame re-hash of someone fulfilling a destiny they were up until now unaware of and lots of inane chat about said destiny. There is a master/apprentice relationship that fails to convince because it's handled clumsily and swiftly and, is too sentimental .Jeremy Irons as Eragons mentor "Brom "adds welcome gravitas but is let down by a script laced with self help sound bites .The villains -Robert Carlyle as a "Shade" necromancer "Durza" and John Malkovich as "Galbatorix" - are suitably fiendish but Malkovich is given way too little to do and the evil henchman are the usual set of grunting failed wrestlers wearing boot polish, bad teeth I assume were false and some spiky leather accessories. The "Wraith" substitutes are underused and the climatic battle is only that in the sense of being an anti-climax.
Plot strands are hinted at and then abandoned quicker than the flick of a dragons tail. Eragons mother abandoning him, his cousins is introduced then promptly disappears, another character suddenly appears with allusions to Drom ,s past and its all rushes past in a bewildering whirl of clunky dialogue and intersecting (admittedly some are good) action sequences . Director Stefan Fangmeier (yes really) hasn't the first clue how to pace a movie and it's hard to escape the conclusion that it would have been preferable to make a longer more definitive version but then we'd have ended up with a three hour bad movie not a 100 minute one and no one would want that.As it is I think you have more chance of a sequel to "Titanic" than of a sequel to Eragon seeing the light of day.