Yes, the novel clearly was influenced by Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, even in the sequel, Eldest, it seems followed this influence. However, in the third novel of the Inheritance Cycle, Brisingr, the plot begins to change. For those who do not read novels, I am sorry to say that you will never see Eldest in film form let alone Brisingr or the fourth in the cycle. Why? Well, it's obvious isn't it? The Eragon film was just plain horrible. Chances are you could probably do better filming in your backyard with your flip phone (slight hyperbole). I am not sure how to review this one without spoiling it, but it outright sucks. If you want to see why, rent it out, just make sure you have a back up video to stop yourself from destroying the television.… Expand

Nice sfx effects but hell, it was written by a kid!!! It's obvious he only had 2 influences: Harry Potter books and the movie Dragonheart, which was good.

This was the best movie that I have seen in a long time. I dont know why everyone says that it was, "Written by a teenager and its terrible." This was a great movie, and I rented it again just so I could see the details better. There should be movies of all of the other books that Christopher Paolini wrote. BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!! :)

forget what the critics say about this movie. it has great entertainment, great visuals, great everything. god praise Eragon.

I had the nice advantage of reading the books and knew that a lot was stolen from Star Wars, but they are well written books. The movie is an epic fail one of the worst book adaptations ever, with bad performances. Cool special effects though. I give this film 21%.

I read the books and fell in love with them. I was very excited when I found out that there was a movie about it. After I had watched I could tell the major difference between the two but it wasn't horrible. You shouoold let the movie stand on its own, away from the books, or you will have a very longwinded argument about all the things that were missing. It was a fun movie with awsome effects and I think it need some credit. So, well done.… Expand

'This is the most original film ever made' would be something you would never hear about Eragon. Not only does it feel like it was written by a 2-year-old monkey , with horrible dialogue and bland, uninteresting characters, buit it also seems to enjoy stealing from every damn fantasy/sci-fi film out there. It's as if the writer went into a DVD store and rented out every friggin' sci-fi and fantasy film on the shelf, before putting each film in a boiling cauldron and mixing it into something evil. It's as if Star Wars and Lord of the Rings had a son, but this son is an ugly, stupid, bastard child with brain damage and problems with interacting with other kids.

Even if you can get past the horrible dialogue and generic, recycled plot, the acting is horrendous too. Composed of a cast of mostly nobodies, Eragon excels at making you cringe at the God-awful acting. In fact, the acting is so bad it's funny. Hearing generic-faced people utter generic lines such as 'we must destroy the empire!' and 'great power comes with great responsibility,' I found myself either laughing or sleeping throughout the whole movie. Mostly the latter.

Perhaps the one redeeming quality this film COULD have had is the effects. I'm definitely not saying that special effects should be valued over a good story (*cough* George Lucas *cough*) but in an alternate universe, if you could overlook the story and every other horrendous thing about this film the effects could make it worthwhile. That is not the case in this film. The graphics are generic and more cheesy than a packet of Doritos. Seriously, you just want to scream at this film 'WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?!'.

But the saddest thing about this film is that it could have been SO MUCH MORE. Yes, the book this film is based on is hardly original either, but if the plot and setting was changed, the cast replaced by talented acters, a good writer penned the film, the dialogue got changed (or removed entirely) and the special effects were taken out, then this film MAY have become an enjoyable Winter blockbuster. Ah, who am I kidding, this film was a nuclear bomb even before the monkey started writing the script. May God rest that monkey's soul.… Expand

The visuals are cool but they simply have little purpose in a movie with a sloppy plot. The entire construction of the movie is sloppy and it just plain boring.

The film would've been a lot better if Peter Jackson or Ridley Scott headlined it, and added and hour or so.

I read both Eragon and Elder which I enjoyed, but the movie was terrible. I have never seen such a great story butchered so badly. What a waste of time and film.

This film was terrible and nothing like the books at all - if they released a book of the sequel I wouldn't even waste money to see it.

Yikes - It's a bad sign when the author obviously meant to name his "novel" Dragon but instead of typing the D, typed an E instead and stuck with it. He should have given up after the typo because the movie is just one long excrutiating typo. This movie is just awful. The second bad sign was I took my girlfriend and her 10 year old son to this movie and although my girlfriend was okay with it, her son (who this movie is obviously geared towards, also do not go to this movie thinking it's in the same league as LOTR or Narnia, it's not even CLOSE), was bored to tears with it. My "Error" is that I paid for a ticket to this movie at all. After witnessing about 35 minutes (believe me it felt like an hour) of Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich embarrasing themselves and just looking for an easy paycheck, we were "Gone". That's a bad sign. Never have I seen that before. I mean once in a while it's okay to see a high profile actor do a bad film just to collect a paycheck (Snakes on a Plane?) but two highly regarded actors in the same film? Me thinks Fox put some hocus pocus juju spell in both actors drinks before they handed them the scripts... Well we eventually left our seats after we could take no more and sneaked into the theater next door showing Unaccompanied Minors... that movie was not much better, but we enjoyed it much more than this poor excuse for the studio to cash in on the newly rejuvenated sword and soercery genre. Awful Film. Stay Away!… Expand

I didn't read the book. I suspect that, if I had, I'd be a lot more ticked off this morning than I am. It's pleasant, diversionary entertainment. It's also an annoying little film. Annoying because, in the midst of the chopped and hacked sequences, the ham-fistedly filmed action scenes, the corn-pone dialogue, the 103-minute running time, is a strong, likable, interesting, and fleshed out 145-minute film just dying to have been made.… Expand

This is the most derivative piece of crap ever. Not only awful, but glaringly unoriginal in its slavish copying from other films in the genre. I was surprised that Peter Jackson et al. didn't sue the pants off of the makers of "Eragon," until I realized that they probably did not want to draw a comparison between their work and what is a truly painfully awful film.

If you've read the book, DO NOT watch this movie. I had the highest expectations for this movie after I read the books. I was severely disappointed. Saphira was the best part of the film. This is the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen. Christopher Paolini should sue the crap out of whoever was in charge of this movie.

This movie was trash. the acting was horrible, especially from the main 'hero.' it didn't help that he was totally unlikable to boot. the only reason this doesn't get a zero is that the dragon had character and Jeremy Irons didn't suck too bad.

When compared to the book, 2 stars, when not, 4 stars. Compared to the book, it really stinks. The only good thing about it was the aerial battle and the Keep Holding On song. The only worthy actors would be the ones who played Brom (altough I think he should have looked older), Durza, Murtagh, and Ajihad. I hope they remake the film to where it is very faithful to the book (which would be at least 3 hours long). Although I would like to do the script for it as well as the sequels myself. Hopefully I will and give you all those films the way they should be.… Expand

This movie's a joke. I can handle the fact that it take 's it's plot lines from SW, HP and LOTR, I can handle the fact that the movie's special effects are frustratingly armature, I can handle the fact that the plot makes no sense and there is way too many dragon fights, what I can't handle is the fact that it has an decent script written for it in the book Eragon, yet it's dialogue is embarrassingly laughable. Unless you are a nine year old who likes dragons and wouldn't know a good movie unless it hit them in the face, AVOID THIS MOVIE. Whoever got paid to make this pile of poo should be charged with fraud.… Expand

Well, I didn't read the book and after this, I most likely will not ever pick up a copy. It was a want-to-be LOTR with a little SW mixed in. It didn't succeed. Leave alone the terrible SFX and the non-existing story, the dialogues were beyond frustrating. Nothing in this movie made sense and it felt rushed, put together as if chronology doesn't matter and sold it as an unfinished product. Nothing in this thing is believable or entertaining. Just throwing in some British actors to pretend to have some class is just not cutting it. It doesn't even hold its own as a copy of LOTR, because the writing is simply too bad. There's nothing redeeming about this and I will not go and see the sequel (if there ever is one). If there was such a thing a as minus rating, I would gladly use that.… Expand

Probably the worst movie of 2006. I'm somewhat of a fantasy fan, but this was utterly disappointing. The director either had no sense of pacing or intentionally made this movie for those with startlingly short attention spans. Things that should take days, weeks, months or even years happen instantly. First we have the cute little CGI dragon hatchling Awww...but we need a big dragon for the rest of the story. Hmm...well we'll just make it instantly mature. Ta Da! Then we have Obi Wan, oops, I mean Brom try to teach young Eragon the ways of magic, but that might take awhile so instead we'll just have Eragon mysteriously discover how to do magic on his own. Gee that was easy. Everything here happens quick and easy. There's no sense that the hero makes any serious effort to do anything. He's constantly wanting to take on platoons of ravenous bad guys and we're supposed to swallow this as a bit of characterization. Hmm...what a brash young hothead our hero is...but then he dispatches the hordes without breaking a sweat. He's not brash--a kindergartener armed with nothing but a Duncan yo-yo would have a pretty good chance against those pathetic enemies.… Expand

I have read both books (Eragon and Eldest) and enjoyed both of them. I was curious to see what they would do with the film. After seeing it, I was extremely disappointed. There were quite a few parts that I enjoyed of the book, but they were either changed, or just left out! Even though a film of the whole book would be quite long, if you want to do something, do it properly! At least Saphira was cute for a while.… Expand

Personally, I think this movie topped lord of the rings. It's not nearly as cliche and includes more fantasy. At least the main character isn't as hopelessly helpless and frodo was.

If the rating was on here, I would have given this movie a -10. Both my husband and I have read Eragon, and Eldest. Like one person said, it was torture sitting though the movie. Especially when you know what's supposed to happen. Not only was the story line wrong, but so were the characters. Uh, Arya had black hair, not reddish blonde, and they didn't even bother to make her look like an elf. Saphira having feathers??? And growing up while flying in a lightning storm? Look, I know that they have to pace the story but come on! Not only was the story line botched beyond repair, but I felt like the movie was on fast foward the whole time. What happened to the dwarves? They are kind of important in the next book...and so are the elves, but we didn't see them either. This movie was the saddest attempt for a book-to-movie that I have ever seen in my life, and being that I rather enjoyed the books, I'm pretty pissed.… Expand

I was very disgusted with this movie. Nothing like the book. Bad acting, bad attempt to make it like the book. Tried to copy lotr but couldn't cause it sucked so bad. Easily the worst film of the year in my opinion.

After reading the reviews from both critics and viewers I felt I had to add my say. I liked this movie. My 6 year old son was frightened by some of the images, but it is generally an entertaining movie. More exciting than Narnia. It seemed like a definite mix of LOTR, Star wars, & Narnia. Would definitely see a sequel. God's Speed Eragon!

I fully agree with Mike S. This movie was beyond terrible. It was a torture for me to sit through, as I knew what was actually supposed to happen. They deviated from the original storyline so much it was painful. The creators have literally shot themselves in the foot, as it will now be completely impossible to make the second installment without COMPLETELY changing the storyline. I had to force myself to sit through to the end, and it took a great deal of effort to not yell out profanity at some stages. I have the most minimal skill with films and making them, but even I would have done a much better job of this movie (with a bit of help, of course). I would recomend the author of the books to sue the pants off of these fools.… Expand

Very bad movie, a lot of info was not included, after reading the book it was horrible to watch. I would rate it the worst movie of 2006.

The positive points are for the dragon CGI. The actual telling of the story itself was horrendous. I probably would have read the book long ago if the movie hadn't tainted the story for me.

The movie was good, but if you want movies that follow the book, this is not your movie. They had great effecs, and the actors did the best they could with what they were given. Over all, i think it was a great movie (even though it was not true to the book) and it is worth buying.

TERRIBLE!!! It has nothing to do with the book except for the names of the characters and throws the plot out the window! Tthe dialogue was cheesy, the directing terrible. The only possitive point was the way the dragon looked. All in all a terrible movie that deserves to be toasted by the dragon, if I was Christopher Poalini I would commit suicide for having my book portrayed in that matter!

I read the two books that are out... its not even close to the true story. Yes, the effects are nice, and the relation dragon-rider is well portraited, but the story is confusing, far tru from the original and very melodramatic. Yuck!!!

I wish I hadn't been initially swayed by all the bad reviews for this movie. I watched it recently, and I didn't think it was all that bad. It's not the best movie out there, and it certainly doesn't stack up to any of the Lord of The Rings movies, but it was okay as entertainment for a lazy sunday afternoon. It reminded me a lot of the older fantasy movies from the 1980's.… Expand

I read the book, and I think it was ok even though there where absolutely no new ideas in it. So I went to see the movie. They could just as well have called the movie DRAGON WARS! return of the ridder! It has nothing to do with the book, and the actors where porbably found in a dumpster. This movie is worse than bad and there is no reason to waste money on it. Btw how come hes the only one with clean cloth? Even after a huge battle??… Expand

The writer and director of this movie need to burn in hell for the abomination that they have unleashed upon the earth. (sounds pretty epic, doesn't it, lol).

The effects in this film, especially the work on the dragon Saphira, are impressive. That's it. Everything else is insufferable. The storyline was created by a kid in his early teens and it shows. The acting can only be called that at a push but, to be fair, they don't have much to work with.The characters they were trying to portray were extremely bland and there was very little character development. I'd love to say that this film would be better if you'd read the book, but I have read the book and it doesn't help. My basic point is that if you don't want to launch a serious attack on your brain cell count, avoid this film at all cost.… Expand

I'd like to call this film the most mentally challenged fantasy film I have ever seen. Horrible editing, god-awful script, and considering how embrassingly simple the story is, it somehow still manages to not make a whole lot of sense. The movie essentially follows the successful template of Star Wars plot-wise, but it's so muddled and derivative that you just want it to hurry up and end. Though I haven't read the book, I heard that they couldn't even follow IT accurately, so one wonders what the studio was thinking. The actors were piss-poor; John Malkovich had as much intimidation as Andy Dick in the single minute that he's on screen, Honsou was completely useless, the main character is irritating, and Jeremy Irons, who deserves so much more than this, seems to be the only one that attempts anything that can be considered a performance, which is a testament to the type of actor that he is. The dragon Saphira, admittedly, is an impressive CGI creation, and Rachel Weisz does give the creature a certain etiquette about her, but the decision to have her speak in a telepathic voice is just ridiculous. Either have the creature actually speak (Dragonheart showed that you can pull it off), or at least give it enough expression to just pantomime through the feature. While this is a more picky complaint, it's just the way they present the voice, especially with the craptastic dialouge, is winch-inducing as if it were a 1980s afternoon fantasy special. I usually avoid using this term to describe a movie, but I have no choice: it's retarded. It's as if Lord of the Rings was dropped on its head if it were a baby. I don't rate it a zero because while it's a curse to the genre, it could also be a blessing in disguise. I'm sickened because there are so many other great sci-fi/fantasy stories out there that deserve the film treatment and THIS flavor-of-the-month gets a $125M budget and a December release. BUT because it should do wonderful in the box-office, the studios could start grabbing more and more fantasy stories; which is a good thing because any other story would be better than this idiotic cesspool of cliches and shoddy dialouge. I haven't hated a movie like this since Timeline.… Expand

Saw this movie last night, thankfully for free. The more I think about it the more I realize how bad of a movie it actually was. It feels like they shot the movie in a matter of weeks with how rushed it is. Imagine Narnia (not going to blame the movie, thats how the books were written) on speed. Should have added at least another half hour to develop some sort of story and character development. Perhaps the director could have made the elves look like elves, and the urgals look like urgals, but no not even pointy ears!!!!! Usually I don't care at all about movies straying from a book or comic, but this is a disgrace. The thought of a possible second movie disturbs me. Subjects and characters that aren't touched on in the movie play a huge part in the 2nd book. For instance, Eragon and Murtagh's close friendship, Eragon's obsession with (unlike the movie Arya express little emotion and never returns Eragons affection for her) Arya. The wound he receives from Durza plays a HUGE role throughout the second. The child he blessed/cursed in Farthen Dur, and the fortune teller Angela also play major roles. The list goes on. That being said, with these gaps in the story I don't see how a second movie is possible. End it now... perhaps in 20 years or so someone will make a good version of this book.… Expand

Being that the rating was PG I took my 6 year old grandson to see it and was not pleased with the violence that the movie portrayed. I was surprised this film was not rated PG-13 and am wondering how much of this rating system is political. Why are some movies like Pirates of the Carribean and Superman have less violence that this one are rated PG-13? Other than that the movie is okay and very visual. A tear arose when I thought the dragon was dying. The end of the movie lets you know there will be a second and probably a third. I would rather have one really good movie than 3 so so films.… Expand

One of the professional reviews said - great for 10 year olds, and that is the truth. They know their perspective audience and so this is the right age bracket for this movie. Obviously had to simplify many of the plot lines from this tome of a book. Don't walk in expecting SW or LOTR and you'll be fine, sit back and enjoy it through a 10 year olds eyes. (votes are the combination of three peoples opinion)… Expand

This movie is such a big cliche. I found nothing original from it. Beginning was not good. At the point when eragon started using magic that everyone else had to study at least 10 years to master, it changed to bad. And soon after that, when he decided to fly to the evil-castle to free some princess, the movie was really going down heavily. For heavens sakes, when you go in a evil castle to free a princess, you can't just walk in robes on (where the hell did eragon even get that robe?), straight to the cell which is unguarded, and open the lock with some harry potter magic. They made it look like it was just a walk in the park. This movie is full of holes.… Expand

I loved this movie which I saw with my 23 year old son - he liked it too. Neither of us read the books. That seems to be the break point. Like a lot of movies made from books. Don't read the book first and you'll like the movie.

Not a bad movie... not a great one either. like most book-turned-movie movies, it doesn't quite justify the book. it was short, had some ho-hum acting, and only a few good moments. but, its definitely something to see on a snowy christmas eve-eve.

This movie was a total disgrace. A butchering to a book. I don't understand how someone could let them butcher there book like that. It was a absolutely horrible piece of cinema. Wish I could have that hour and a half of my life back.

I have read both of the books Eragon and Eldest by: Christopher Paolini, and I have to say the movie is the saddest attempt to make ae book real I have ever seen. I was initially excited to see the book come to life, but now I immensly regret ever seeing it because if I ever decide to re-read the book, I will constantly have images in my head of the horrid rendition of the book. I only give the movie a 1 because of the cgi in it because that was probably the only part of the entire movie they even bothered to make sure it wasn't horrible. If i can say anything to people about the movie is just don't go waste time and money to see this movie because it is just a bunch of butchered, scenes and acting thrown together to try and make a movie which doesn't work at all.… Expand

This movie was a terrible attempt to bring a gorgeously written book to the screen. The dialogue was butchered and the only thing worth watching was Saphira, an impressive work of computer animation...except that Saphira had feathers on her wings. The original storyline was ripped to shreds by this pitiful rendition. There were so many awkwardly-phrased lines that would go over the head of smaller children. However, when Eragon shouted out "I have skills!" I couldn't help myself and just indulged in a full-on laugh. Had they changed the name of the movie, I truly would have believed them to be a separate movie. The characters portrayed little interaction, and suddenly relationships seemed to appear out of nowhere. I hated this movie for ruining these beautiful little books.… Collapse

Wow, the acting was terrible.

What Happened to half the book where they where meant to go to some harbour town and what happened to GOOD acting? I still can't believe i kept watching it to the end. PLEASE DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS ME.

Ha! My 5 yr. old son was so bored he asked if we could leave! I was willing to hang around until the battle, but we didn't. Cool maggotts on the bad guys heads, though, eh?

What happens when you take a dull, embarrassingly awful, and all but plagiarized book and transform it into a movie? You get a dull, embarrassingly awful, and all but plagiarized movie. I'm not surprised at all. Paolini's vision has finally come to fruition, and you can smell it from miles away.

This movie was fantastic! I have never read the book myself, but I still expected this movie to be one of the best films of the year; and it was! The only problem was that it was a little too fast.

It's decent fun if you like this sort of movie, not the "worst movie ever". It's not going to win over anyone who does not go out of their way to watch movies with dragons and magic. I actually felt that it was too short, not enough time for any kind of character development, and the last 30 minutes feels super rushed. Good for kids and people who like kids' movies The first hour story is Star Wars, the last half hour is Lord of the Rings, but both not done nearly as well.… Expand

Cheezy sets, nice acting, great visuals, interesting story, and better than the reviewer's say. My sister would really enjoy this one because its meant to be a kids film.

Not as bad as review would suggest, but Eragon suffers from poor direction. The storytelling is mediocre, and the director has no grasp on emotions or character development. Fangmeier an FX guy, so the film looks good, but his lackluster direction leaves the film in an awkward grey spot. Sure, the novel, which i haven't read, won't win the pulitzer prize, but there no denying that Fangmeier failed to bring out the best in it. Eragon still makes passable fantasy entertainment, but you can't help but feel a bit frustrated that better direction could've made this a fire-breathing smash instead of a mediocre stumble.… Expand

Possibly the worst, and I mean THE worst movie I have ever seen. This is what happens when you take completely inexperienced actors/ director/ everything and give them movie equipment. My 12 year old brother has made better movies than this. I give one single point for the special effects, which were sub-par, but still the best part of what I don't even want to call a movie.

Shocking movie. No sense of scale. No sense of danger. Huge holes in the story. A confusing mess. Not sure why I watched to the end, it certainly didn't get any better.

I hate this movie, I had so huge expectaions for ths film and after the 5 first minutes I just needed a break, and after I finished it Ii felt that the good feeling I had from the book was completely washed away by this extremely bad movie, and a bad design error on Saphira, she is a dragon, she don't have feathers, she has scales and a thin skin on her wings, not feathers, I had to laugh when I saw it.… Expand

This movie was a disappointment to every Eragon and Eldest fan. I don't see why you would make a movie based on a book and then make it look like a student film written by a terrible Fan fiction writer. I think it was the worst movie I've seen by far.

This movie left so much out from the book, yet I just can't give it anything less than a 7. Still, I cannot believe how much they cut out from the book; I mean they might as well have called the movie "Saphira".

I thought the book was pretty good but the movie sucks it left out so much and most if not all the characters look different then is described by the book

Okay, as a 13-year-old fanatic of the Eragon book and sequel, Eldest, that was honestly one of the worst book remakes I've ever seen in my life. Completely ignores so much of the important points, and tries to fill it in with horrible acting. I was slightly impressed of the special effects. My recommendation is, if you have not read the book, rent it if there are no other movies at blockbuster. If you have read the book, don't even bother looking at it, it just downright sucks.… Expand

The movie was awful, and the book wasn't far behind. I get a huge kick out of all these people who think "awesome" constitutes a well thought out review of anything. Highly derivative is also being charitable. The story is poorly written newsgroup-class tripe. They hand a poorly done story to a director who is out of his depths from the first scene and they expect a good movie from this utter mess?… Expand

I'm really surprised this movie has been panned by both critics and viewers alike. I went into it with low expectations, thought the name was a bit silly for a start. I was very pleasantly surprised. The movie was pure fantasy escapism and thoroughly entertained me. Irons, Carlyle and Malkovich provided much needed acting mettle to counter the younger actors learning their trade but people need to remember this is at heart a kids / teen movie. I'm much older than many that have commented here (in my mid 30's) but having enjoyed it myself I'm pretty confident families with children over 10 would enjoy it too.… Expand

I really hated this movie. i really did. i read the book and it was awesome, but then the director and the terrible acting and fight scenes destroyed it. seriously, they took out at least ten to fifteen chapters out of the whole book to make to movie. lame acting, lame dialogue, the only good thing was the special effects. please, for your own sake don't see it. Please.

As most of the reviews state: Do NOT watch this movie if you have read the book. Period. However, if you have never heard of the tale of Eragon, or just like dragons its worth a single watch. No replay value whatsoever, an extremely unsatisfying ending, and (butchered) boring story.

Take the best book ever written take almost everything (invluding some of the main important characters which ruined its chance for a sequel) and put in flashy lights What the hell were they thinking that nobody read the book seriously this movie was horrible

To me, Eragon is one of the best books i ever read, so when i heard they were making a movie, I was extremely excited. But after i saw it, I nearly puked at how bad it was. What happened to the dwarves? Why do the urgals look like that? The Ra'zac turned from powerful hunters into mindless monsters which at one point, Eragon killed one with a tree branch. I bet the director ripped random pages out of the book, and threw them off an apartment. Whatever he found was in the movie. This movie was a terrible disapointment, especially to fans. It still gets a 3 because of the special effects, the locations, and Jeremy irons was pretty good. Its not often that the best book ever turns into the worst movie ever, but this one rises to the challenge.… Expand

Eragon is one of my favorite books and when I heard that they were making a movie, I wasnt expecting much, considering most films generally arent very good. Not very good is an understatement for this film. Not only does it not follow the book in any sense of the word, even if you are not a fan of the series, Eragon is still a very,very, disgustingly bad movie. I cant even begin to list the inaccuracies. One of the Ra'zac is killed by Eragon wielding a stick, nearly half the book is basically skipped. But my favorite part is at the end when Eragon fights Durza. Instead of having a sword duel, like in the book, Durza summons some dark cloud thing with a mouth on it. I guess the director thought it would be cool to have an air battle with Saphira and the cloud. That, on top of bad acting, and really cheesy moments all add up to a really bad movie. Avoid.… Expand

I absolutely loved this movie! Almost everyone around me hated it (for some bizarre unknown reason). But I was very entertained.

This movie disgusted me. I am a huge fan of the books, and noone will read the books should they see the movie first. Key characters and plots are non-existent. Plot elements are entirely made up. The only redeeming features are decent special effects.This movie should be remade by a competent director.

Eragon is a movie to be shamed of!Even the mediocrity of the overrated novel feels like a masterpiece after viewing this.The only feature that attracts some attention is the inspired "dragon" visuals that accompany it.Horrible acting,John Makcovich is a shadow of himself,nothing seperates him from the other so called protagonists.Jeremy Irons is like a breeze of fresh air in the stink this film produces!… Expand

Ridiculous. The majority of the movie I spent my time making fun of how effing stupid it was. Terrible acting/writing/story/trees/everything. Good show for kids though.

I really did not enjoy this movie. For a while my hopes were high, I could imagine how great it wasn't going to be. However, this movie lacked a lot of information and scenes that were in the book. From what I saw, the director basically cut out the entire first half of the movie, not even showing Eragon's training. Another thing I realized was that the director even made up scenes in the movie. In my point of view, you can't make a 500 page book into an Hour and 39 minute movie.… Expand

The book is FANTASTIC!!! but the movie, was not something i would be proud to say i directed, for example. if this movie was anything like the book, it would be 10+. i'm disappointed. i was hoping to finally get a good movie out of my favorite book. if they do Eldest, they better shape up.

Horribly written, uneblievably unconvincing acting and miserable interpretation of hte novel, which was quite good. At one point I asked myself if they picked the actor for Eragon off the curb, for God's sake I could do a better job the him!

ok i was mildly entertained by this film the effects are high gloss .... script felt like a unrevised draft of a much better film.. stil the same my younger brother enjoyed himself hope to see the sequel ...

I agree with the SFCronicle when it says this movie provides a much-needed afternoon of family-friendly entertainment. I took my 10 year old son and his friend to see this movie. Good PG entertainment, sort of along the lines of last year's Narnia.

Okay, it could have been worse... But it also could have been MUCH better, ad I'll leave it at that. One has to wonder how much Chris Paolini actually contirubted to this.

Burn this movie and all copies of this movie, Eragon the movie is by far the worst movie I have ever seen. I don't know, maybe it's cause I am a big fan of the books and they were great although this is a rip off lotr/star wars. I just have to say, that when you are making a movie based on a book, do not just make stuff up, stuff that never happened and things that fuck up the storyline. It was just horrible to watch it as a fan of the books. I wanted to leave the movie theater after the way Brom died and who shot Durza, I just can not stress this enough. Do not make a second movie based on Eldest. Since Eldest is by far better then Eragon but if they make a movie on it, make it 4 hours or some, not less then 2 hours, You just can not make a good movie about a book that's 497 pages in 2 hours. It's impossible and frankly they should rather have made two movies to be shown like 3 months apart or something like that. If an Eldest movie will be made, you will have one fan of the books not going to spoil them by watching the movie.… Expand

Completely cheesey. Very infantile. Plot material stolen from Sega's "Panzer Dragoon" video games, and a forgetable cast.

This movie is an amateurish version of a Star Wars/Fellowship of the Ring mash-up, and the only reason I draw those two comparisons is that the movie itself tries desperately to make the comparisons for you, with little success. In culling Paolini's book for movie-worthy scenes, the writers threw the baby out with the bathwater; at the end of the movie, we're expected to care about the fates of characters that the writers have spent zero time developing. One cue they didn't take from Fellowship or Paolini's text is the physical absence of the Evil Leader, in this case Galbatorix. Malkovich is, in my opinion, highly overrated as an actor, and this performance shows it. His idea of portraying evil is to speak...very... slowly... and... deliberately... and... loudly. He certainly made me cringe, but not from fright. The dragon effects were this movie's sole redeeming quality. Everything else--script, casting, cinematography, costumes, set design--gave the impression of a freshman film school exercise.… Expand

The movie, while not exactly bad, hits just below whelming. The plot feels too condensed, the story in the form of this movie just doesn't have an epic feel about it, and some scenes definitely have a Power Rangers feel about them. The visuals are nice and the acting is passable, but these don't save the film from being slightly underwhelming.

Susan Tavernetti in the Palo Alto Weekly gave this movie three stars. Metacritic, the online movie review aggregator, gives it a 39 of a possible 100. Unfortunately, I didn't check with Metacritic first. This movie was, as Dan Ackroyd's Saturday Night Live art critic Leonard Pinth Garnell would have put it, "stunningly bad" and "exquisitely awful." The dialog, at any point in the movie, could be taken word for word and dropped into an SNL "Bad Cinema" skit and gotten howls of laughter. I thought John Malkovich was an actor's actor. Malkovich and Jeremy Irons are what drew me to see this. I gave it a 1 because it might someday become a B movie classic.… Expand

This movie stinks worse than a giant dragon turd. It seems like they blew the budget on making Saphira look cool. You'll see better scipts, acting and set peices in an episode of Xena. That is saying a lot about this film. Besides the fact that there is not a shred of decent character dialogue, the costume and makeup department really takes the cake. Elves, no pointy ears. Dwarves, not short, not stocky, just have big beards like ZZ top. The worst are the Urgals--fat dudes with paint on their eyes. That's it. Eragon is ridiculous too. He is always clean in a white shirt while everone else looks like a total raggamuffin. All and all this movie makes BloodRayne Oscar worthy by comparison. It is that bad. Please don't give this piece of junk one more dime. Go buy the book if you are interested.… Expand

I loved this movie. In fact, I have already seen it twice and plan to go again. I thought the performance of Edward Speleers was great to be so young and green. I look forward and anticipate a bright acting future for this young man. I loved it...what can I say?

Horrible! So sad, the books were a fun read. I feel bad for Christopher Paolini, to hae his name tied to this. I can say something positive about it - I took my dragon-obsessed 8yr old daughter, and she ate it up. She wants to see it again! (ugh)

The book was so exciting and intricate. I was very disapointed in the screen play. Other than the character names and the general story line, the movie didn't really resemble the book. The characters played the parts well but the script was lacking all the way.

Every bit as good as Alien Vs Predator. Take a great IP, destroy it with cheesy dialogue, slow-motion fire sequences, and horrible acting, and you have Eragon the movie--loosely based on the best-selling book.

This film appeared to be a storyboard with no connecting events. Movies based on comics have richer plots than this novel turned comic strip. The director of this train wreck should go get a real job. Again Hollywood insults its customers by putting out material unfit for DVD.

I thought the movie was good, if you read the book then i can see why you wouldn't like it. I read the book and i still enjoyed the film. Even though it didn't follow the book i think it made the story come to life. The acting was good and Saphira was amazing. Go see it if you like fantasy.

After reading Eragon, and seeing the movie, I would say the movie was horrible. There was such detail in the book, and in the movie the completely mixed up the order of events, left out important parts from the book. The one good thing I saw is that they showed most of the characters. All in all I think the movie was horrible, and to just read the books.

After reading Eragon and Eldest, I was amazed that a teenager had come up with the idea. When I heard that Eragon was coming to the big screen, I was ecstatic! Never once in my life have I been so disappointed by a movie - or anything, for that matter. The books were amazing, and well written, even if so many of the ideas came from other stories. It was original. The movie, though, was a bunch of ugly make-up, horrible animation, and bunch of downright horrible, unbelievable actors running around trying to save the world with their corny phrases. I did, though, enjoy TWO (yes, two) parts. A) Sapphira B) You know, where it said 'THE END'.… Expand

The movie was a horrible attempt to bring a book and a magical world to the theaters. Making a book into a movie is ussualy never succesful and this movie took all the don't and put them there. They changed the story line, cut too many events, rushed into teh action and basicaly destroyed an authors work.

The movie sucked. I don't think the director read the book. The director managed to remove everything good from the book and put in scenes that sucked. This was the worst movie of my life! A total waste of money. Who the heck made the script? Whoever it was, the person was a dope to cut out every single good part from the book! What happened to the urgals' horns? What happened to the deserted city? I just hope the movie director will finally decide to read Eldest and Eragon to make the second movie.… Expand

I don't know why all the critics ripped this movie apart. No, it won't win any awards, but it was an ok movie. As far as comparisons to LoTR, it was nothing like those movies, I liked it better than LoTR, but then again, I'm not one of those geeks that thinks hobbits and elves are awesome!

Yeah, its definately a Star Wars plot plopped into the LOTR world, but its worth checking out. The actors are pretty decent, the dragon is wonderful, and the plot? Well, its a fun fantasy epic sure to entertain.

Anyone who has read the books should agree, this is crud. It doesn't hardly follow the story at all - there is NO history and there is no reason to watch it. We should all ban together and get someone to make a movie that's accurate. I don't care if it's 6 hours long; that's what I want to see. I just cannot understand the mentality of the director and writers. What the heck is going on? It's RIDICULOUS how the movie turned out. It's way too short even with all the stuff out of it. It's just junk. True fans will not like this movie at all. It was very hard to actually watch the whole thing.… Expand

I knew how bad the reviews were, and I had read the book, which was such an obvious rip off of other fantasies that it would probably lose a purgery lawsuit. But despite this, I decided to give it a chance. My attention span lasted a surprising one hour before I finally got up and walked away, with the sounds of this terrible movie at my back. I wish I could call it a decent kids movie, but I can't imagine any kid that wouldn't be bored to tears by this flick. It has no redeeming qualities at all. The special effects were even dull. If I could go back in time, only once, to do just one thing, it would be to hunt down the kid who wrote this (Paolini or something), and burn every scrap of his book before it could be published, so I could get back all the time I wasted reading and watching this atrociously bad story.… Expand

It is unfortunate when a mediocre book that gets popularity solely from less-than-avid readers is made into a film. Eragon is one of the worst of such films, failing to inspire like the far superior "Lord of the Rings", lacking both original plot and compelling action. Purely derivative and a waste of 2 hours. Just watch LOTR3 again.