12-15-06, 8:56 am
Eragon Directed by Stefan Fangmeier
A sword and sorcery saga, Eragon has all the ingredients to make this another money spinner for it's creator Christopher Paolini, who was only 15 years old when he wrote the original novel.
The plot line is classic. A farm boy named Eragon (Edward Speleers) discovers the egg of a dragon that hatches to reveal his destiny - to lead the forces of liberation against the tyrannical King Galbatorix (John Malkovitch).
Meanwhile, he has to learn the lessons of his trade from former dragon rider Brom (Jeremy Irons) before facing it out against the ghoulish hordes led by the wicked wizard Durza (Robert Carlyle).
Naturally, the boy and the dragon Saphira (voiced by Rachel Weisz) have a magical symbiosis, communicating telepathically and having each others interest at heart if they are to survive.
Basically, 'if a rider dies, so does his dragon.' Obviously, as Brom demonstrates, it isn't reciprocal, the dragonless rider merely being denied his driving licence and cast into oblivion.
Given the age of the writer, he has incorporated elements from a host of similar story lines, from Star Wars to Never Ending Story, with the forces of good combining to fight for liberation.
Like all such fantasies, everything has to be taken with a large pinch of mythical salt, especially having to listen to some of our finest thespians hamming it up like they were playing pantomime parts.
Narrator Jeremy Irons introduces the story in classical manner, declaiming: 'There was a time when...' with Malkovitch following up with his first agnonising line, 'I suffer because of my stone.'
The stone is a dragon egg that has been stolen by the beautiful warrior Arya (Sienna Guillory), who ran off before being brought low by Durza and jettisoning the egg into the air.
The child in everyone will marvel as the egg cracks open to reveal a wobbly little dragon who immediately leaves his mark on the young Eragon before demonstrating how to deal with their rat problem.
With Industrial Light and Magic creating the CGI, the whole is seamlessly woven together with some imagination, the dragon taking its place in their pantheon of fabulous creatures from Lord of the Rings to King Kong.
Clearly the first part of a trilogy, it will take something special to maintain it throughout, since the span of its characters is spread thinly, a factor that might lead to some disappointment.
But, like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, it develops the budding romance between the leads as they take on more of Galbatorix's evil empire.
Still, like all such franchises, you never can tell if this family-friendly film might just launch Edward Speleers into international stardom, because, despite the media unfriendly name, it's an anagram of peerless.
From Morning Star
