Was it just me, or did the writers of Eragon just take Star Wars and replace spaceships with Dragons?
Boy you tripping balls!
Email notification? WTF? This means that much to you?
Oh noes, I just fell for this. Ach well, I’m not even supposed to be here today etc...
I kinda chuckled at the childish vandalism of penned moustaches and glasses on the billboard near my house of Jeremy Irons, and that chick. That is all I know of this Eragon movie.
I repeat: THERE ARE NO GOOD DRAGON FILMS
Dragonheart got decent reviews but i’ve never seen it.
(ditto with dragonheart, but I fear the worse. It’s just that dragons are so mutherfuckin cool, but nothing I’ve ever seen has come anywhere near how cool it could/should be)
Well I needed to get my address verified for the site... Now if you’ve watched the movie, you will see a young farm boy staring off at the setting sun, arm on knee, hills in the background, yearning to see the world just like our boy Luke. Ergon lives with his uncle, the uncle is killed by creatures from the earth (sand people?), and then their hut is burnt to the ground. Just reminded me of the first movie. Now granted, many “You are the chosen one” movies have the same characters in them. We have the “Wise Mentor”, who everyone thinks is crazy (Old Ben). The princess who of course needs to be saved. The dark haired shifty eyed side kick that you don’t know if you can trust.
Now you don’t have to agree with me but mark my words, when Ergon 2 comes out and he gets his hand cut off, his buddy is caught in a spell, frozen, then taken back to the castle, you’ll know.... you’ll know.
it sounds like a KUROSAWA film or some shit.
young farm boy becoming the hero of the fantasy world is the story of every mainstream fantasy nove ever, though? (*)
The guy who plays the dragon rider dude looks just like young bill bruford.
I’ve never heard of the books this film was based on. The trailer I saw I didn’t much like the look of.
*(ok maybe a slight exaggeration)
Pashmina OTM, get one ‘Hero With A Thousand Faces’
Only my blind devotion to Malkovich makes me want to see this shit.
My husband has an autographed copy of the book that he won when trying to win something better than an autographed copy of the book. It looks a bit rubbish.
(Pete’s Dragon has a dragon in it and is great, so saying there are no good dragon films is just wrong)
the title of the book/film just appears to be the word “dragon” with the letter “d” incremented one space.
isn’t there a character called aragorn or something in that other lame d&d fantasy film thing?
There’s also “Jane and the Dragon”, weekend mornings, channel 5.
Yes, in “Lord of the Rings”. (x-post)
WE ARE ALL LOSERS FOR BEING ON THIS THREAD
damn!
I’m only a loser for spending good money on this movie...
The books were released as Young Adult lit, partially because the author was about 15 when he wrote the first one. So Eragon is pretty impressive for a 15-yr-o but not so much in its own right. Also, the sequel didn’t come out for ages while he finished high school and er, started college? so I was hoping it would show greater stylistic improvements given the intervening years, but was sorely disappointed. WILL NOT BUY AGAIN.
That 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes seems pretty generous.
why was this movie made? i mean, lord of rings is like THE fantasy novel, and yeah those film were huge so copycats were sure to come. but why THIS series of novels? after you do LOTR as the iconic source (and can’t do other famous and old fantasy stuff like conan or the leiber books cos they’re not EPICK or whatever), why these? aren’t there thousands and thousands of dragonriding vs evil empire trilogies at this point? are these novels a big deal at all? was the world crying out for eragon films? it just seems kind of random (hate that word usually but here i really mean it... like the dart didn’t hit the other 19 fantasy titles pinned to the wall or whatever)
LOTR, yes, but Harry Potter as well. As Laurel notes, this straddles the line between the two demographics handily for marketing purposes.
In other words, this was probably the only one that could be made PG rated & under 2 1/2 hours.
The first time I saw a trailer for this movie was when I took the boy to see Happy Feet (great, btw). In the lobby before we entered the theater, I gave the boy $.50 to play at one of those crane-arm things nobody ever wins anything out of. He pulled not one but TWO toys out of there with one clawdrop! I was so proud.
Anyway, he kind of wants to see this.
It sounds like a KUROSAWA film or some shit.
That reminds me. In that Steven Seagal “turn off your mobile” advert that’s now been replaced by Joanna Newsome, does he say “It’s a Kurosawa piece” to the Orangeman when he’s trying to pitch him his romantic comedy idea, and if so, how does that make sense?
wtf!
Something has been replaced by Joanna Newsome? Surely that’s backwards....
I repeat: THERE ARE NO GOOD DRAGON FILMS
Nu-Edward III OTM. I was just about to post that pic!
Interesting side question: when did the trend of portraying dragons as good rather than evil (or, alternatively, both good and evil) in fantasy start? The influence of the Chinese dragon has probably something to do with it, for example in Neverending Story (the book) the friendly dragon is clearly Chinese, but these days the same applies to most Western style dragons too. With Tolkien dragons were still evil.
I this is related to other folklore monsters (vampires, werewolves, etc.) gradually getting a more sympathetic treatment as well.
“I guess this is”
Don’t forget about this little number coming down the pike
I repeat: THERE ARE NO GOOD DRAGON FILMS
Eragon is based on a book written by a 15-year-old
o wait somebody mentioned that already, sorry
Eragon’s marketing campaign is based on scans of AD&D materials, printed on an inkjet, by a 15-year-old.
hahahahaha
seriously, it looks like Dragonlance in the subway
gully dwarf buskers
John Malkovich as Fizban.
why was this movie made? i mean, lord of rings is like THE fantasy novel, and yeah those film were huge so copycats were sure to come. but why THIS series of novels?
they appear to be massively popular, if the number of adults reading them on the train over the past year is any indication
Is yr train the BDFV? Because there are like 6 major publishing offices within walking distance of various F stops and I don’t know who else is reading it.
I just realized that this is Jeremy Irons’ second Dragon movie
I was going to say.
it appears to be crushing the kids’ book category on the nyt lists. i wonder how its real numbers compare with ahem adult books. or its own numbers from before the movie came out!
my train is in the california bay area, where there are alot of people with stunted intellectual development who think they are still teenagers
I just realized that this is Jeremy Irons’ second Dragon movie
His glory years were definitely on Playaway.
(XP) I’m sure you don’t mean to disparage YA lit by suggesting that its readers are all stunted or delusional in some way, so that’s all right. And whoops! I haven’t been looking at the NYT lists; I keep not having time for PW, which is just sad.
UGH! You guys are heartless have you ever tried to write a 300 page book and keep it consistent? Read Harry Potter and get some perspective. Paolini did a very very good job.
So far most of the criticism is about Arya, who probably follows many vegan rules but not others in order to put on a show. Remember, elves are very political.
“The lack of originality” hmmm, he made over half a dozen cities practicaly from scratch, a map, a magic system, at least fifty characters, smart *gasp* villains, an entire set of elven customs that he kept consistent, and dozens of magical words with thousands of different combinations and uses,....... JK Rowling couln’t say that much, though I have to admit she came close on some of those.
“Inconsistency” Ok, on which floor is the bathroom in Harry Potter? Since when did Harry have a bedroom? How many typos are in the first book alone? Ask these questions on Harry Potter, ask those same questions in Lord of the Rings and Ringworld, then come back and ask those questions on Eragon. You would be suprised.
I would like to know why Saphira has feathered wings—when dragons should tradionally have membrained wings and if I am not mistaken “Eragon” states that whilst he was flying Saphira, he made a comment on her membrained wings. I am very disappointed that Saphira looks like a giant duck with an elongated sausage neck.
I am enjoying the book, however, after seeing photos I don’t want to spoil it by going to see the movie.
Anyone else feel the same way ?
HAVE YOU SEEN PAOLINI??? HE LOOKS LIKE FAILURE.
I repeat: THERE ARE NO GOOD DRAGON FILMS
i really liked Reign of Fire! it was not a good movie but went the commendable route of taking itself completely seriously and featuring the performance of Matthew McConaheehawy’s career.
xpost: the above is from here. lots of predator-ship level nerd pants-pissing, if you can stand it.
When people complain about a lack of originality, I don’t think they mean an author’s prowess at thinking of non-existant names that have too many (or too few) consonants (or vowels). I think they’re complaining about yet another repetition of the exact same quest narrative and character treatments and scene set-ups (ie forest ambushes, aerial combat, dwarves burrows, etc). Also, keeping his characters straight and building believable cities is the LEAST I expect from a fantasy author...so that’s hardly raising the bar.
tell it to the nerds!
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For. Fuck’s. Sake.
Oh, sorry! I cross-posted and didn’t see the attribution. And I was really, really close to asking whether someone else had taken over your computer/brane....
well, i would like to know where harry potter’s bathroom is
What do you think Teh Chamber of Secrets was about?
Thanks Laurel,
You got the point. Johnny B, are there any good made for tv dragon shows?