Eragon* sneak peak
Due to a friend's connection with a promoter, I got to see *Eragon* last night.
It was "ok". A kinda Saturday matinée movie if such were still made.
Well, they had a very long novel to edit down to movie length. In some ways, I think they did a good job; we didn't need to see the dragon grown up over months. However, as unexciting as detailed mountain-hiking may be, travel time allowed for much of the character development that kept the book readable. In this movie, really it's greatest flaw was the lack of character development. Who is this Murtag guy, and why should we care? What the heck happened to the brother who wandered off? Should we be sad or kinda glad the butcher got his? Why is the king so annoying? Who was the Shade anyhow? And when the heck did Eragon have time to become a skilled fighter?
Even the relationship between the rider and the dragon suffered; it made little sense that the dragon would do as the boy bid. OTOH, the rider and the dragon was the best part of the film. The effects were marvelous, there was no physical disconnect when they interacted. Mental speech worked fine, and provided some amusing moments (as with interactions with the well-acted Brom).
The movie had occasional Disney-esq moments, as when the dragon "magically" grew up, and some of the fight scenes looked ready to be made into rides. A video game was made immediately following shooting, with the cast. Of course, the book read a lot like a video game already. :-) (The second one less so.)
They also apparently didn't have much of a budget, or maybe interest in, the whole fantasy cast of species. There was an early reference to elves and dwarfs and such... but no specific follow up! There were some kinda stocky shorter guys, never called dwarfs, and there was the "princess", who was never hinted to be an elf and didn't have any particular elven characteristics. That was frustrating, particularly the lack of follow up from a 'movie' point of view.
I did spend a lot of time watching the costumes! LOL I appreciated they made some attempt at 'tribal' wear, and some different types of clothing for different areas. The mass of it was ridiculously glittery however. And it was really disconcerting to have the rebel chief's daughter in European style finery in the midst of a culture where everyone else wore Middle Eastern styled clothing (of course, the fact that she looked and moved like a model not an actress emphasized that as well). WTF? How come Eragon's clothing was distressed, but no one else's was? It may seem weird I noticed it that much, but clearly a lot of effort was put into it in the film.
So, it was kinda fun. There were some cool flight and fight sequences (though a couple times the filming was a bit twee, trying to see how fancy/nauseating it could be). It was a nice fantasy rural setting. The spectacular mountains of Hungary provided a great backdrop (I had to stay and see where it was filmed). The boy got the dragon and learned to fight, and met a pretty girl (who was too old for him). The grizzled mentor provided sage advice and quick saves. A Saturday matinée movie. Ok-ish.
Eragon's brother was hot. :-)
The friend I went to the film with was really frustrated by the deviances from the book. I actually thought most of them were pretty well done and made sense for a movie, but the lack of character and follow up was kinda boring. There were a lot of kids in the audience, and they seemed involved if not excited. There was a light scattering of applause at the end. Folks exited pretty quickly and quietly.
One amusing bit was the friend and I were put to work by the promoter. :-) He helped with tickets, I was security, for the row of reserved seats. An admittedly familiar role! But it woulda been nice to've had a badge or such. Nope, I was just another dude with a raincoat.
*Thanks to didjiman for the typo correction!
It was "ok". A kinda Saturday matinée movie if such were still made.
Well, they had a very long novel to edit down to movie length. In some ways, I think they did a good job; we didn't need to see the dragon grown up over months. However, as unexciting as detailed mountain-hiking may be, travel time allowed for much of the character development that kept the book readable. In this movie, really it's greatest flaw was the lack of character development. Who is this Murtag guy, and why should we care? What the heck happened to the brother who wandered off? Should we be sad or kinda glad the butcher got his? Why is the king so annoying? Who was the Shade anyhow? And when the heck did Eragon have time to become a skilled fighter?
Even the relationship between the rider and the dragon suffered; it made little sense that the dragon would do as the boy bid. OTOH, the rider and the dragon was the best part of the film. The effects were marvelous, there was no physical disconnect when they interacted. Mental speech worked fine, and provided some amusing moments (as with interactions with the well-acted Brom).
The movie had occasional Disney-esq moments, as when the dragon "magically" grew up, and some of the fight scenes looked ready to be made into rides. A video game was made immediately following shooting, with the cast. Of course, the book read a lot like a video game already. :-) (The second one less so.)
They also apparently didn't have much of a budget, or maybe interest in, the whole fantasy cast of species. There was an early reference to elves and dwarfs and such... but no specific follow up! There were some kinda stocky shorter guys, never called dwarfs, and there was the "princess", who was never hinted to be an elf and didn't have any particular elven characteristics. That was frustrating, particularly the lack of follow up from a 'movie' point of view.
I did spend a lot of time watching the costumes! LOL I appreciated they made some attempt at 'tribal' wear, and some different types of clothing for different areas. The mass of it was ridiculously glittery however. And it was really disconcerting to have the rebel chief's daughter in European style finery in the midst of a culture where everyone else wore Middle Eastern styled clothing (of course, the fact that she looked and moved like a model not an actress emphasized that as well). WTF? How come Eragon's clothing was distressed, but no one else's was? It may seem weird I noticed it that much, but clearly a lot of effort was put into it in the film.
So, it was kinda fun. There were some cool flight and fight sequences (though a couple times the filming was a bit twee, trying to see how fancy/nauseating it could be). It was a nice fantasy rural setting. The spectacular mountains of Hungary provided a great backdrop (I had to stay and see where it was filmed). The boy got the dragon and learned to fight, and met a pretty girl (who was too old for him). The grizzled mentor provided sage advice and quick saves. A Saturday matinée movie. Ok-ish.
Eragon's brother was hot. :-)
The friend I went to the film with was really frustrated by the deviances from the book. I actually thought most of them were pretty well done and made sense for a movie, but the lack of character and follow up was kinda boring. There were a lot of kids in the audience, and they seemed involved if not excited. There was a light scattering of applause at the end. Folks exited pretty quickly and quietly.
One amusing bit was the friend and I were put to work by the promoter. :-) He helped with tickets, I was security, for the row of reserved seats. An admittedly familiar role! But it woulda been nice to've had a badge or such. Nope, I was just another dude with a raincoat.
*Thanks to didjiman for the typo correction!