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Jan. 16th, 2011 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntiemeeshNetflix is a great service for someone like me. For one thing, I've pretty much had to give up using libraries and things like that because I'm so bad about getting items returned in a timely fashion that late fees become a real problem. For another, I'm lazy and even when they were popular, there were no conveniently located video stores, so I would have had to take buses and such to go get a movie. Who wants to do all that, just to sit down and watch a movie at the end of the day?
Of course, having Netflix only encourages the laziness, making it less necessary to get off my duff and out of the house. However, since I'm naturally inclined towards hermitude and barely have enough energy to make it through a week of work as it is, I'm okay with that.
At some point within the past six months or so, I must have put Eragon on my queue. Then, I stopped paying attention to what was coming up and so ended up with Eragon at my house this weekend. Being in a good mood last night, I decided to risk it, and popped the movie into my dvd player.
Once upon a time, I had a neighborhood bookstore and in that bookstore, there were always plenty of copies of Eragon, prominently placed to catch the eyes of all shoppers as they stood at the juncture between the children's section and everything else. Thus, it was hard to avoid knowing at least something about the book. For instance, that it had something to do with a young boy and a dragon. And that it was always on the best seller list.
So, like I said, I was in a good mood last night. The Penguins won a game against the Bruins, who've humiliated them in both previous encounters this season. The Steelers managed, despite playing some truly awful football for about half the game, to still win their playoff match against the hated Ravens (I'm not really sure why the Ravens are hated, other than the fact that once upon a time, through the convoluted moves of franchises, they were the hated Cleveland Browns). I popped the dvd into my player, turned on the tv, and settled in with a cup of decaf and a late supper. Well, the decaf and supper were decent. The movie, sadly, was pretty lacking.
I'm assuming the book was better and that there was a lot missing in the translation to screen. Because it mostly just didn't make a lot of sense. The movie starts out by giving some explanation about the wonders of dragon riders and how they were so awesome but unfortunately a bad one went out and killed all the others before taking over as king. At some later date, the entire world has forgotten all about dragons and their riders, or think they're just a story for kids or something, despite the fact that all of this seems to have happened within the lifetime of the older generation of people still living in the kingdom. These folks must have memories almost as good as mine.
The story contained a mishmash of elements taken from other, better, fantasy stories. There are apparently elves and dwarves living outside the kingdom, although we only hear about them, and never actually encounter them. The set-up of dragons and riders is very Pern-like, with the dragons and riders bonding, and the dragons dying if their riders die, but not the other way around. The feel of the world as it was established and the movie as it was filmed reminded me strongly of Willow, although there wasn't anything really outright stolen from that movie. The Lord of the Rings vibe was also strong, with the villainous Galbatorix sending orc-like creatures after Eragon being one of the main elements. The scene where Eragon finds his uncle had been killed by baddies was blatantly lifted from Star Wars.
There was a lot more but let us move on, as there are so many other things to discuss. Like the fact that there was no real emotional connection between any two characters (or between the characters and the audience) at all throughout the entire 100+ minutes of the movie. Partly, this may have been the fault of the pacing of the movie. It definitely felt like key narrative portions of the story were cut out in order to allow for the action bits. Of course, having never read the book, I have no idea if those key narrative bits were actually ever there, but I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt. I was extremely unimpressed with the casting of Ed Speleers as Eragon. Kudos to Hollywood for casting a teenage actor to play a teenage role, but the kid really didn't seem to connect with the role at all. His emotional responses to situations sometimes seemed two or three degrees off from what they should be. Not sure if he's just a bad actor, if the script was truly too terrible to work with, or if the director just didn't give enough notes and support. Probably a combination of all three, since he wasn't the only one who seemed to be phoning the job in. Actually, upon giving the director a closer look, I'm going to place more of the blame on him. Some guy I've never heard of, this has been his only director's gig to date (although he did some second unit directing on Galaxy Quest).
As far as the story goes, well, it doesn't really go anywhere. Kid finds a dragon, becomes Alagaesia's most wanted, is told that he's destined to rid the world of the evil that is Galbatorix (dude who killed all the dragons) and that to do so he must join with the rebels living outside the kingdom's borders. He has a few battles, finds and loses a few companions, learns a few life lessons, joins the rebels, gets gifted some really sweet threads, kills the guy who's been trying to harsh his mood (not Galbatorix, btw, just some flunky), everyone loves him, the end. It's sort of like how it would feel if Lord of the Rings ended after the battle at Helm's Deep. Yes, it's a satisfying win, but it's hardly the conclusion of the story.
All the way through this movie, I couldn't escape the feeling that I was watching a Marty Stu written by a teenager. When it was all over, I did a little research and learned that Christopher Paolini, the author, was in fact a teenage boy who'd been homeschooled all his life. Again, I haven't read the book, but I'm guessing there was an emphasis on high fantasy elements and a lack of true emotional depth in the original story. This lack was then emphasized when the book was turned into a movie, with an emphasis on the visual and auditory, rather than any sort of story narrative.
Final analysis: Two thumbs down.
Of course, having Netflix only encourages the laziness, making it less necessary to get off my duff and out of the house. However, since I'm naturally inclined towards hermitude and barely have enough energy to make it through a week of work as it is, I'm okay with that.
At some point within the past six months or so, I must have put Eragon on my queue. Then, I stopped paying attention to what was coming up and so ended up with Eragon at my house this weekend. Being in a good mood last night, I decided to risk it, and popped the movie into my dvd player.
Once upon a time, I had a neighborhood bookstore and in that bookstore, there were always plenty of copies of Eragon, prominently placed to catch the eyes of all shoppers as they stood at the juncture between the children's section and everything else. Thus, it was hard to avoid knowing at least something about the book. For instance, that it had something to do with a young boy and a dragon. And that it was always on the best seller list.
So, like I said, I was in a good mood last night. The Penguins won a game against the Bruins, who've humiliated them in both previous encounters this season. The Steelers managed, despite playing some truly awful football for about half the game, to still win their playoff match against the hated Ravens (I'm not really sure why the Ravens are hated, other than the fact that once upon a time, through the convoluted moves of franchises, they were the hated Cleveland Browns). I popped the dvd into my player, turned on the tv, and settled in with a cup of decaf and a late supper. Well, the decaf and supper were decent. The movie, sadly, was pretty lacking.
I'm assuming the book was better and that there was a lot missing in the translation to screen. Because it mostly just didn't make a lot of sense. The movie starts out by giving some explanation about the wonders of dragon riders and how they were so awesome but unfortunately a bad one went out and killed all the others before taking over as king. At some later date, the entire world has forgotten all about dragons and their riders, or think they're just a story for kids or something, despite the fact that all of this seems to have happened within the lifetime of the older generation of people still living in the kingdom. These folks must have memories almost as good as mine.
The story contained a mishmash of elements taken from other, better, fantasy stories. There are apparently elves and dwarves living outside the kingdom, although we only hear about them, and never actually encounter them. The set-up of dragons and riders is very Pern-like, with the dragons and riders bonding, and the dragons dying if their riders die, but not the other way around. The feel of the world as it was established and the movie as it was filmed reminded me strongly of Willow, although there wasn't anything really outright stolen from that movie. The Lord of the Rings vibe was also strong, with the villainous Galbatorix sending orc-like creatures after Eragon being one of the main elements. The scene where Eragon finds his uncle had been killed by baddies was blatantly lifted from Star Wars.
There was a lot more but let us move on, as there are so many other things to discuss. Like the fact that there was no real emotional connection between any two characters (or between the characters and the audience) at all throughout the entire 100+ minutes of the movie. Partly, this may have been the fault of the pacing of the movie. It definitely felt like key narrative portions of the story were cut out in order to allow for the action bits. Of course, having never read the book, I have no idea if those key narrative bits were actually ever there, but I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt. I was extremely unimpressed with the casting of Ed Speleers as Eragon. Kudos to Hollywood for casting a teenage actor to play a teenage role, but the kid really didn't seem to connect with the role at all. His emotional responses to situations sometimes seemed two or three degrees off from what they should be. Not sure if he's just a bad actor, if the script was truly too terrible to work with, or if the director just didn't give enough notes and support. Probably a combination of all three, since he wasn't the only one who seemed to be phoning the job in. Actually, upon giving the director a closer look, I'm going to place more of the blame on him. Some guy I've never heard of, this has been his only director's gig to date (although he did some second unit directing on Galaxy Quest).
As far as the story goes, well, it doesn't really go anywhere. Kid finds a dragon, becomes Alagaesia's most wanted, is told that he's destined to rid the world of the evil that is Galbatorix (dude who killed all the dragons) and that to do so he must join with the rebels living outside the kingdom's borders. He has a few battles, finds and loses a few companions, learns a few life lessons, joins the rebels, gets gifted some really sweet threads, kills the guy who's been trying to harsh his mood (not Galbatorix, btw, just some flunky), everyone loves him, the end. It's sort of like how it would feel if Lord of the Rings ended after the battle at Helm's Deep. Yes, it's a satisfying win, but it's hardly the conclusion of the story.
All the way through this movie, I couldn't escape the feeling that I was watching a Marty Stu written by a teenager. When it was all over, I did a little research and learned that Christopher Paolini, the author, was in fact a teenage boy who'd been homeschooled all his life. Again, I haven't read the book, but I'm guessing there was an emphasis on high fantasy elements and a lack of true emotional depth in the original story. This lack was then emphasized when the book was turned into a movie, with an emphasis on the visual and auditory, rather than any sort of story narrative.
Final analysis: Two thumbs down.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 03:59 pm (UTC)I have not read the book, but I've sampled it and know others who have read it, and yes, it's pretty much what you would expect from a 15-year-old who is in his "fantasy is AWESOME" phase. Hollywood can do terrible thing when they have a great book as the source. When the source isn't great, well, you're pretty much doomed from the start.
I try not to remember this movie exists. Bad bad bad!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 04:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 04:57 pm (UTC)But that was just not good writing.
As for bad movies, they can be more fun with rifftrax, but I don't know if they've done that one.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 07:56 pm (UTC)So then I tried to watch the movie and the same thing happened.
I guess if you're 15, the book and movie would be great. But for those of us out of high school, not so much.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 08:04 pm (UTC)Sorry you lost those hours of your life with Eragon.
=D
no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 08:10 pm (UTC)I'm impressed that you kept watching the whole way through!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 08:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 08:56 pm (UTC)