Susan Granger’s review of “Eragon” (20th Century-Fox)
With the kids on vacation, needing diversion, this dragon tale will suffice but it’s a pop culture clone that’s totally derivative, offering nothing original.
After culling from “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings,” teenage novelist Christopher Paolini delved into Joseph Campbell’s “Hero With a Thousand Faces,” coming up with this coming-of-age fantasy about Eragon (Ed Speelers) a brave 15 year-old farmboy raised by his Uncle Garrow (Alun Armstrong).
It seems that the land of Alagaesia was once ruled by noble Dragon Riders – until evil King Galbatorix (John Malkovich) nearly drove the fearsome winged creatures into extinction. But one sapphire-blue egg survived and Eragon finds it. When the baby dragon hatches, Eragon names her Saphira. Eventually standing 15 feet tall with a 20-30 feet wingspan, Saphira (voiced by Rachel Weitz) communicates telepathically with Eragon.
Enraged to discover that a dragon lives, Galbatorix demands that his sadistic sorcerer Durza (Robert Carlyle) kill them both – and poor Garrow falls victim. That’s when an inscrutable magic mentor/wise warrior, Brom (Jeremy Irons), tells Eragon (think Luke Skywalker) that he is to be the Dragon Rider, fated to participate in the fierce Battle of Farthen Dur between the King’s army and the rebellious Varden, led by Ajihad (Djimon Hounsou).
Writer Peter Buchman dutifully follows Paolini’s tale while visual effects supervisor-turned-director Stefan Fangmeier, utilizing Wolf Kroeger’s production design and Hugh Johnson’s photography, elicits only minimal excitement, except for the graceful, high-tech dragon with her scales-and-feathers wings.
John Malkovich, Robert Carlyle and Jeremy Irons are old pros at sword-and-sorcery silliness, but the younger actors – Ed Speleers, Sienna Guillory and Garrett Hedlund – come across as stiffly awkward. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Eragon” is a forgettable 5 – unless you’re a pre-adolescent boy who may thoroughly enjoy it.
