ERAGON - What did you think?
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PatrickLawinger
First Post
Um, haven't read every post here so don't know how we got from Eragon to Superman, but I took my kids and several of their friends to the movie this afternoon. (possible spoilers below, but there have been spoilers in some of the other posts)
My 11-year-old (who has read the books and a WIDE collection of other books): "It was fun but I don't know how they are going to have an Eldest movie, they didn't even introduce some characters from Eragon (the book) that are important in Eldest."
His 12-year old friend (who hasn't read the book): "Those effects were SO COOL. Except the 'shade dude' he was, like, puppetman on a smokey bat thing, it looked stupid..." He liked the movie and had a good time
That boy's older brother started falling asleep during the last 20 minutes (when there was actually MORE action). His older brother has a few problems though and I think this just wasn't his type of thing.
My 7-year-old enjoyed the movie, however, he finished reading the book this morning and was able to start describing all the differences between the book and the movie. this resulted in him trying to get his older brother to tell him which characters were imporatant in Eldest (the second book) which he just started reading. It was nice, as a parent, to note that my older son simply refused and stopped talking about missing characters so as not to "ruin" the second book for his brother.
His 8-year-old friend just plain had a great time at the movie and really, REALLY liked it.
My 4-year-old daughter decided that she didn't like it and wanted to go home, after the first 20 minutes.
Yes, I took 6 kids to the see Eragon and watched the last hour and a half with a cranky 4-year-old (who likes LOTR-don't ask me, probably because her brothers do) in my lap.
Oh, my opinion? Not a very faithful adaptation of the book (I haven't read the second book but suspect my 11 year-old knows what he is talking about above). I think that younger boys of the ages 6-13 will enjoy the movie (and some girls). Overall, the movie felt lacking to me. I think the script and direction were pretty poor. Ofcourse, certain actors do turn in good performances, but really, they didn't have much to work with.
Patrick
My 11-year-old (who has read the books and a WIDE collection of other books): "It was fun but I don't know how they are going to have an Eldest movie, they didn't even introduce some characters from Eragon (the book) that are important in Eldest."
His 12-year old friend (who hasn't read the book): "Those effects were SO COOL. Except the 'shade dude' he was, like, puppetman on a smokey bat thing, it looked stupid..." He liked the movie and had a good time
That boy's older brother started falling asleep during the last 20 minutes (when there was actually MORE action). His older brother has a few problems though and I think this just wasn't his type of thing.
My 7-year-old enjoyed the movie, however, he finished reading the book this morning and was able to start describing all the differences between the book and the movie. this resulted in him trying to get his older brother to tell him which characters were imporatant in Eldest (the second book) which he just started reading. It was nice, as a parent, to note that my older son simply refused and stopped talking about missing characters so as not to "ruin" the second book for his brother.
His 8-year-old friend just plain had a great time at the movie and really, REALLY liked it.
My 4-year-old daughter decided that she didn't like it and wanted to go home, after the first 20 minutes.
Yes, I took 6 kids to the see Eragon and watched the last hour and a half with a cranky 4-year-old (who likes LOTR-don't ask me, probably because her brothers do) in my lap.
Oh, my opinion? Not a very faithful adaptation of the book (I haven't read the second book but suspect my 11 year-old knows what he is talking about above). I think that younger boys of the ages 6-13 will enjoy the movie (and some girls). Overall, the movie felt lacking to me. I think the script and direction were pretty poor. Ofcourse, certain actors do turn in good performances, but really, they didn't have much to work with.
Patrick
I hadn't heard of Eragon until this year...and the reviews I've heard & read (and with the movie trailers out, things I've seen) hasn't encouraged me. I'm waiting until it shows up on Sci-Fi or FX or some such.
Upon seeing the commercials for it, my first thought was "Another D&D movie? Will they never learn?"
I agree with the above poster that the Dragonslayer dragon is still the best I've seen, including the Eragon clips, though I don't have a problem with feathered dragon wings. Quezcoatl rulz!
I also agree that Hambly's or McCaffery's books would have been much better choices for translation to the silver screen. So would Dickson's "Dragon and the George" and subsequent novels.
Upon seeing the commercials for it, my first thought was "Another D&D movie? Will they never learn?"
I agree with the above poster that the Dragonslayer dragon is still the best I've seen, including the Eragon clips, though I don't have a problem with feathered dragon wings. Quezcoatl rulz!
I also agree that Hambly's or McCaffery's books would have been much better choices for translation to the silver screen. So would Dickson's "Dragon and the George" and subsequent novels.
HeavenShallBurn
First Post
Dannyalcatraz said:
I've always thought the Dragon and the George series was good humorous fantasy. Probably one of the best to translate to the movies for all the out-of-character humor and the general light-spiritedness of it.
IcedEarth81
First Post
We were working on the scenario of someone who had no prior knowledge of anything Superman going to see Superman Returns. Not very realistic, but it was just for discussion sake. I think it isn't very realistic for someone in 1980 to not be aware of at least a little of the Star Wars story. The first movie was a cultural phenomenon in '77 - it was all over the place.
Bottom line, nearly every sequel in history requires you to watch the previous movies to know a lot of the little things going on in the film. Sure, you can follow the plot of a sequel without that, but you won't understand some things that are going on.
Bottom line, nearly every sequel in history requires you to watch the previous movies to know a lot of the little things going on in the film. Sure, you can follow the plot of a sequel without that, but you won't understand some things that are going on.
IcedEarth81 said:
Granted. Though, I'd still say it's easier for that novice movie-goer to follow Superman Returns than ESB.
IcedEarth81 said:
More realistic than you'd think.
In my (admittedly small, especially at the time) North Carolina town, there were only about a dozen of us who became SW freaks. The reception for SW was so small that our local cinema (a single one-screen house, no multiplex at that time...we're a bit better off now) didn't get ESB when it came out. I had to go to a larger town nearby to see it. We're still light on fantasy freaks around here, by the way; Eragon isn't in this week's listings. (Frickin' Passion of the Christ, on the other hand, stayed on our screens--two of 'em, no less--for better than five months.)I'd point out, as a side note, that virtually all of those non-Star Wars-goers knew who Superman was.
IcedEarth81 said:
Again, granted; though, again, I'd point to Silence of the Lambs. There was literally no need whatsoever to have seen Manhunter to understand it.
Regards,
Darrell King
Last edited:
IcedEarth81
First Post
I won't argue which is easier to follow - no doubt SR is.
About SOTL, that is why I said nearly every sequel rather than all.
About SOTL, that is why I said nearly every sequel rather than all.
NiTessine
Explorer
I went to see Eragon the other day.
I started giggling around the time of the opening narrative and did that all the way to the end, stopping every time the script tried to be funny.
Eragon places pretty firmly in my personal top ten of worst films of all time, alongside such classics as Dungeons & Dragons and King Arthur, because when you have a budget of some 100 000 000 dollars (according to Wikipedia) and guys like Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Robert Carlyle, churning out crap like this just isn't excusable.
The movie failed in just about every area, including soundtrack and the fight scenes, which have traditionally been a strong point in even the bad fantasy and historical flicks.
I started giggling around the time of the opening narrative and did that all the way to the end, stopping every time the script tried to be funny.
Eragon places pretty firmly in my personal top ten of worst films of all time, alongside such classics as Dungeons & Dragons and King Arthur, because when you have a budget of some 100 000 000 dollars (according to Wikipedia) and guys like Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Robert Carlyle, churning out crap like this just isn't excusable.
The movie failed in just about every area, including soundtrack and the fight scenes, which have traditionally been a strong point in even the bad fantasy and historical flicks.
Arnwyn
First Post
Just saw it last night. Disclaimer: I am not familiar with whatever source material it's from.
This movie was... not good. I didn't really enjoy myself, and thought that it was simply a 'plot by numbers' flick. I guess it wasn't horrendous, but still... not great.
Maybe a 4/10.
This movie was... not good. I didn't really enjoy myself, and thought that it was simply a 'plot by numbers' flick. I guess it wasn't horrendous, but still... not great.
Maybe a 4/10.
Teflon Billy
Explorer
I saw it with my youngest daughter and a friend about a week ago.
It's not awful exactly, but whoeve mentioned it was "By-The-Numbers" earlier in the thread has the right of it. I mean, there is very little originality in it...and I don't ask for much as a rule.
But when my 9 year-old daughter mentions that a certain chracter is "just like Obiwan Kenobi" you kind of have to laugh a bit.
Still, it was nice ot see Jeremy Irons not screwing up a Sword and Sorcery movie
By way of comparison, I got the Second D&D movie on DVD for Xmas and enjoyed it quite a bit more than Eragon.
It's not awful exactly, but whoeve mentioned it was "By-The-Numbers" earlier in the thread has the right of it. I mean, there is very little originality in it...and I don't ask for much as a rule.
But when my 9 year-old daughter mentions that a certain chracter is "just like Obiwan Kenobi" you kind of have to laugh a bit.
Still, it was nice ot see Jeremy Irons not screwing up a Sword and Sorcery movie
By way of comparison, I got the Second D&D movie on DVD for Xmas and enjoyed it quite a bit more than Eragon.
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