The Reviews Are WRONG
December 29, 2006 by mrschili
We took the girls to see Eragon yesterday.
It was the first showing of the afternoon, the theatre was FREEZING and the screen was a little too small for our liking, but the movie itself was, at least to MY humble estimation, a lot of fun.
We’d heard nothing but bad reviews of the film- go to rottentomatoes.com and you’ll find entire pages of holier-than-thou bitching about how the film offered nothing new to the genre, about how it stole from everything from Star Wars to Lord of the Ring, and about how lame the script writing was. Now, I can’t say that I necessarily disagree with some of the accusations of creative borrowing from previous stories, but I happened to LIKE the originals in question, so I didn’t mind so much that those rather distinctive flavors came back. I should also disclaim here that I didn’t read the book: Husband read it aloud to the girls over a series of bedtimes, and I was usually otherwise engaged in cleaning up after dinner or grading end-of-term papers. Because of my ignorance of the text, I wasn’t bothered by diversions from it. I thought that the film was well-crafted, exciting, and visually stunning.
My family engaged themselves in discussing the differences between the film and the book as we made our way to the holiday clearance section at a nearby Target (I NEVER buy wrapping paper or ribbons at full price!), but everyone agreed that most of the changes made in the screenplay didn’t detract from the story. My husband was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more attention paid to the backstory of the mentor - there was a scene involving the son of the mentor’s rival that, because I hadn’t read the book, left me a little confused - but even he declared that the film was very well done. We decided that film reviewers ought to just lighten the hell up.
I wouldn’t take really young’uns to the show - there was a scary villian and quite a few orc-like nasties, and there was a good deal of sword and arrow violence - but both my girls (ages 7 and 9, though, admittedly, very mature 7 and 9) survived just fine. I’m betting that kids would like the story far more if they were familiar with the book, but I’m also betting that grown-ups would just as soon go into it without preconcieved notions.
No one’s asking me, but I give it a good, solid thumbs-up.
So what if no asked you? It’s YOUR blog, sister! Plus, I love your movie reviews. Especially for those that are on my “want to see” list.
Happy New Year!
~Snob
Are these the same girls that thought ‘Mouse Hunt’ was too scarry just a short year ago???? My how they grow!
“I suffer without my stone. Relieve my suffering.”
That line made me wince. The dragon was cool though.
Yeah, I’m not saying it was overly intelligent - there were a fair number of allowances that had to be made - but it certainly didn’t suck as bad as all the reviewers would have us believe. The dragon was VERY cool - almost worth the price of admission all on her own.
I enjoyed the movie overall. Did you?
I learned a long time ago to ignore the critics.
classic example: “Hudson Hawk.” Critics will have you believe it just may be the worst movie ever made. I personally found it very funny and entertaining. Bowyer agrees with me. Is it Oscar caliber material? Hell no! But it IS entertaining, and I usually just want entertainment and escapism out of my movies, not heart-wrenching or soul-searching or thought-provoking.
I get enough of that out of real life.
My parents just saw it and as she has read so much fantasy, felt the story was a blatant rip off of so much cannon fantasy, with too little character development. Despite my mother’s slam, I think I might still see it, because my daughters loved the story, and also because of your take on it.
She did love the special effects as well though.
I am glad to hear that you enjoyed it. Thanks for the review.
I liked Jeremy Irons. (mmmm) But overall i though the movie was really pretty bad. I kept wanting to giggle at some of the dialouge.
I hadn’t read any of the reviews before i went. I do have a thing for dragons in movies though.
I hate the film by default because of the book it’s based on. Nothing, nothing will convince me that the book is anything but an unredeemable, derivative piece of shit.
This opinion is, I believe, based at least in some truth. It’s also rooted in my bitterness towards supposed wunderkind teenage authors. That could have been ME — I had a friend in publishing, I could have been published if I had ever finished a book — and, by god, I would have done it better than any Christopher Paolini or Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.