~The ERAGON Movie Discussion Thread~ May your swords stay sharp!

Saw it this afternoon. All I can say is 'ugh'. This movie is now the new winner of the Jar-Jar Binks Dumb Dialog Award.

 

Maybe if PJ did the film, it'd be half decent, but considering the material...


he did do the film. it was just under a different title at the time.

 

This movie looks dreadful.

 

Ouch is right. I had been looking forward to this movie but it is getting slammed. The harshest critics seem to be fans of the book. I'd just gotten into the books because of the movie but it looks like I should of just stuck with the books

I'll still check it out this weekend.

 

I'm probably going to go see it later this week once school calms down. My mum wants to take me because she's a fan of the books. I didn't like the books, but I'm curious to see how they did the movie.

 

Ouch indeed.

A know someone who has seen it now... and they basically said bad bad bad. Looked promising - and I'd still like to see it as I like the genre and look - but probably only on dvd now.

 

I'm going in a hour and a half. No high expectations, just want to get it over with.

 

Are the bad reviews mainly about cheap dialog complaints? Did they not do a good job transferring material from book to movie?

 

Are the bad reviews mainly about cheap dialog complaints? Did they not do a good job transferring material from book to movie?
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no, it seems to be about how much of a copy eragon is from star wars, lord of the rings, etc.

 

Can I just say that if anyone on these boards sees Eragon and cannot identify the ridiculously close similarites to the original Star Wars, I will be very, very sad.

 

It butchered the book so much. There is no depth and things happen at the wrong time at the wrong place.

I'm surprised the screenwriter didn't make Roran the dragon rider. Clearly they never read the book.

 

This has been getting absolutely panned by critics.

 

There's a reason why. The movie is awful.

 

I thought the movie could've been better, but there were some good aspects to the movie. I thought Saphira was awesome, and the cast they had were pretty decent. For me it just felt too rushed, and it didn't follow the book even half as well as LOTR did.

But all in all it was a decent film (probably more so if you watch it before you read the book), but it's definitely not the best. If they ever do bring Eldest to screen then I just hope they will learn from their mistakes and be more faithful to the book.

However on the other hand, the Eragon videogame is awesome!

 

There's no way they can give Eldest justice:

Jeod, Katrina, Orik, Solembum, The Twins are all missing from Eragon.

 

I'm going to make up my own mind, not have some "fake know-it-all" critic make it for me.

 

Is it "so bad it's good" bad or "just horrible" bad?

 

To get everyone's opinion, whether good or bad, any can feel free to pop over to this poll and let us know what you thought. I would be really interested to see if the majority of people do actually pan it, as votes are already spread around.



For ease:

How would you rate the movie "Eragon"?

 

I cast my vote already. Judge the movie for yourself, but the consensus is on this one.

 

I'm going to make up my own mind, not have some "fake know-it-all" critic make it for me.


vivic, professional movie critics have generally studied and watched films for a long time. it's as academic and personal to them as it is for those in other fields. i'm not talking about joe critic, but the roger ebert, peter travers and kenneth turans of the movie world.

 

That may be true of the book but I don't know if you can say the same for the movie. Mostly because like others have said they pretty much butchered the book.

It was sad. On the other hand though I don't really know how they could of done it correctly without making it a 3 1/2 hr movie like LOTR and I don't particularly think that would of made a good movie. It was rushed and heavy on the exposition yet they still left some of the cooler parts out. So they could of made it longer and basically just ended up with Brom talking for longer and still not had a decent movie. There were so many points where I felt that they were throwing something in from the book just to put it in there. It wasn't really important to the story anymore since they had painted that corner out.

Maybe its just one of those books that doesn't translate to film well. Maybe its just an adaptation that will be done better later. Either way I know that after getting into and becoming a fan of the books because of the upcoming movie (really looking forward to the last book), once I saw the movie I wasn't thrilled with it

That was another thing that really bugged me that you already touched on. So much of what in the book had been important character driven decisions was reduced to chance and happen stance. There is a big difference between making a mature choice to set out on your own to build a life for yourself with the hope of living it with the woman you love and running off because you don't want to have to join the army.

 

vivic, professional movie critics have generally studied and watched films for a long time. it's as academic and personal to them as it is for those in other fields. i'm not talking about joe critic, but the roger ebert, peter travers and kenneth turans of the movie world.


It's the same as fashion critics, they know nothing about real scholarly matters, so they pretend to be "experts" in fashion. The same goes for movie critics. They're critics. They get paid to convey their opinion, and they can't give any more. There, I will make up my own mind. Last I recall, my brain was inside my head, not a critics.


it's as academic and personal to them as it is for those in other fields.

you can't make something academic if its not, and yes, they all are joe critics.


talking about joe critic, but the roger ebert, peter travers and kenneth turans of the movie world

What makes them so special? KW, you have a brain. Rely on yours, not mine, not theirs, when it comes to making a decision. Don't use their brain, use yours.

 

The same goes for movie critics. They're critics. They get paid to convey their opinion, and they can't give any more.

professional critics have far more to base their opinion on than we do. some critics, like ebert, have won major awards for their work. Ebert won a pulitzer prize for his commentary, and that was at least 20-25 years ago. those aren't handed out at the grocery store.

their opinions aren't any more valid than ours (at least not necessarily), but theirs can be more meaningful. When someone who has seen probably thousands of films, ranging across a wide variety of genres, likes a given film, that means a lot. it means more to me than joe movie watcher liking a film, to be sure.

you can't make something academic if its not, and yes, they all are joe critics.


Film and cinema is indeed academic, and many people get degrees in related fields. Roger Ebert is no "Joe Critic". He's probably the most accomplished film critic around right now, having written many books and reviewed thousands of films. Jay Carr of the Boston Globe (retired now) and Ken Turan of the L.A. Times are similarly accomplished critics. They know their movies. There are many other critics out there who are just as good, if not quite as accomplished. And there are plenty of critics who write mostly hot air and aren't worth reading. Like the rest of life.

What makes them so special?

Because the best critics make film their lives, watching for both personal and professional reasons, and because they're trained writers, are able to articulate why a film is great or why it's terrible.

Rely on yours, not mine, not theirs, when it comes to making a decision. Don't use their brain, use yours.

I'm not in the business of throwing money away. If the majority of major film critics dislike a given film, chances are i won't see it. Consensus among any group of people that features a wide range of ages and personalities is rare, and when it happens, best to pay attention.

When i do see a film, i base my opinion of it off what i've seen, not what others have written.

 

I will go ahead and warn you that I know nothing about the books or the movie, but when I saw the trailer and the fact that Jeremy Irons was in it (who I actually like as an actor), all I could think is two things. . .

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS

AND

FLOP.

I am quite sure that I would like this movie since I like things like Krull, Willow, and other fantasy movies. However, I am, to this day, baffled by movie companies who decide to make movies like this just because they see the success of so many other fantasy movies like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc.

Do they not see the fact that the novels for these types of stories, while they may have a strong and specific fanbase/cult following, are not going to make a successful movie; even if they stick to the book word for word?

Books like the Potter, Narnia, and LOTR series already had such a wide fanbase which covered so many different types and groups of people that it makes financial sense to make a motion picture based on these books. This is why making the Ender's series of books into movies does not make sense to me. I am sure they are great stories, but who, in the marketing departments for these movie companies, decides "Hey, let's spend a good chunk of money making a movie about this novel which has a strong; yet sub-cultural, fanbase who are the only people who are probably going to see this movie."

For instance, I would love for some company to make the C.S. Lewis space trilogy for the big screen, but, at the same time, I seriously doubt they would get to make the second one because of the financial failures of the first one.

Don't misunderstand what I am saying because there are so many fantasy movies which I am happy were made, but flopped at the box office. I just cannot figure out the logic of motion picture industry. Star Wars was a good financial decision for Fox because they put only a small amount of money into the picture figuring that if Lucas and Company were really as talented as others were saying they were, then they could pull off a masterpiece with very little money. Never say never, but don't pour money into something that may just give you a very loud "THUD" when all is said and done.

The motion picture industry is not just suffering because of pirating or the expansion of home theater systems, but it's also the fact that there are just TOO MANY movies being made. They are wasting their money on either good stories with a specific following that very well may flop in the theater or total crap that no one wants to see.

 

I saw it, and found it to be of the same quality as the books. Which in this case means it was a piece of trash.