movie review: Eragon
Watched "Eragon" last night with stompboxer. He subjected himself to the movie as a favor to me because of the harsh past week :p
I haven't read the book because I've made it a point not to once they announced that they would be making a movie. I've found out through "Two Towers" and "Return of the King" that not reading the book before watching the movie gives me a chance to enjoy the movie based on its own merits. The LotR series is up there on my list of favorite movies, while the same movies were nitpicked by the hardcore Tolkien geeks. Anyway, this was just meant to serve as a disclaimer that what everything I'm going to say is based on the movie alone.
My brain was screaming "Star Wars!" throughout the movie, most probably because they share the same basic Hero's Journey" story. stompboxer and I even compiled a checklist after it was done:
Farmboy with great destiny he knows nothing about? Check.
Wise old man with painful past to guide the farmboy? Check.
Evil emperor with powerful righthand man? Check.
Beautiful princess who needs rescuing? Check.
Wise old man killed by emperor's righthand man? Check.
Farmboy finds the rebels opposing the evil emperor? Check.
Evil emperor follows farmboy to the rebels' hideout? Check.
Big battle ensues? Check.
Farmboy saves the day using his special abilities? Check.
That said, the special effects were amazing. I loved how they did Saphira. The only 2 people I liked in this movie were Jeremy Irons and Rachel Weisz. Unfortunately, Jeremy Irons gets killed off. Dang.
I'll buy and read the book once I have the money. I'd love to read "Eldest" once I'm done but they're probably going to make it into a movie anyway and I really don't want to nitpick it the way I did with FotR and the Potter series.
Hmm. Maybe I should download "Dragonheart" and watch it again. Wehehe.
I haven't read the book because I've made it a point not to once they announced that they would be making a movie. I've found out through "Two Towers" and "Return of the King" that not reading the book before watching the movie gives me a chance to enjoy the movie based on its own merits. The LotR series is up there on my list of favorite movies, while the same movies were nitpicked by the hardcore Tolkien geeks. Anyway, this was just meant to serve as a disclaimer that what everything I'm going to say is based on the movie alone.
My brain was screaming "Star Wars!" throughout the movie, most probably because they share the same basic Hero's Journey" story. stompboxer and I even compiled a checklist after it was done:
Farmboy with great destiny he knows nothing about? Check.
Wise old man with painful past to guide the farmboy? Check.
Evil emperor with powerful righthand man? Check.
Beautiful princess who needs rescuing? Check.
Wise old man killed by emperor's righthand man? Check.
Farmboy finds the rebels opposing the evil emperor? Check.
Evil emperor follows farmboy to the rebels' hideout? Check.
Big battle ensues? Check.
Farmboy saves the day using his special abilities? Check.
That said, the special effects were amazing. I loved how they did Saphira. The only 2 people I liked in this movie were Jeremy Irons and Rachel Weisz. Unfortunately, Jeremy Irons gets killed off. Dang.
I'll buy and read the book once I have the money. I'd love to read "Eldest" once I'm done but they're probably going to make it into a movie anyway and I really don't want to nitpick it the way I did with FotR and the Potter series.
Hmm. Maybe I should download "Dragonheart" and watch it again. Wehehe.