Eragon the movie

I just bought the DVD of Eragon and seen a few of the featurettes, and all I can say is that I'm totally disappointed. No wonder the film did not made it big in the blockbuster. The filmmakers butchered a material that could go somewhere near the stellar heights of The Lord of the Rings. The Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini could be miles away from the grandeur of JRR Tolkien's Middle-Earth, but its simplicity could be of a big help in transforming the book into the film medium, something of which Peter Jackson and his team had to struggle with.

Eragon is a simple coming of age story with a fantasyland at its backdrop. The story's characters are not that many, but then they were even reduced in the film. I'm not sure if the writer of the screenplay, the producers and the director have even read the book front and back; they could have just read clip notes or the story's outline. They may have thought that this trilogy is just all about Eragon; but in truth, it is the rise of a new generation of Dragon Riders, not just of Eragon but also of the other two who have yet to come.

The length of the film is only one hour and thirty-seven minutes; short… too short for the first part of what could have been an epic trilogy. When I heard the director's commentary on why he had to delete some scenes, I almost threw the remote control to our TV set, but then it's not worth destroying our new 32'' LCD tv. I even called the screenplay writer an ''idiot'' when he mentioned that while writing the script he had a talk with Paolini himself about what's going to happen in the next two books, yet he somehow failed to put the essential dynamics in the first that are crucial in the next two films.

This is the director's first directorial film, and you can clearly see he had paid more attention to the effects than to the story and character development. He said he had to leave out scenes that would give some pause and prolong the delay to the ultimate battle at the end – a battle that lasted for less than ten minutes. He was so excited to show the battle that would showcase a flying dragon emitting fire and battling another flying being – a scene that was shot in the dark hiding the much anticipated special effects.

Elves have pointed ears and dwarves are smaller than men. That's how they are presented in the book and in almost all books published in the same genre, but the filmmakers had this stupid idea of trying to stir away from the norm and change them. The elves here only have long, flowing hair and dressed differently from humans, and a dwarf can stand shoulder to shoulder with a man. Ridiculous!

I could go on and on and point out every mistake they have done in making this film and of crucial sub-plots they have altered, but it would just be exhausting much more exhilarating than watching the film. I'm just glad I didn't spent more by buying code 1 and opted for the code 3 instead; the fun thing is there's a Tagalog subtitle.

Yen posted this from her O2 Xda Atom

Not of dungeons but of dragons

Ever since I have heard of this new book hitting the bestsellers list written by a new and very young author in 2003 I wanted to read it, but then other books got in the way and I have never dared to pick it up from the book shop. Come 2005 and after the July hoopla of the 6th Harry Potter book, the sequel of this book came out, still I just looked at the cover and never had the courage to bring the first and second book to the counter. Last quarter of the 2006 came and the movie adaptation of the first book was released, I'm not sure why I still wasn't enticed, I still didn't buy the book and didn't watched the movie.

After months and months of not reading any fictional book at all, I finally felt this hunger to read. The hunger to read about stories that will take me away to such a foreign place where things happen that would seem impossible in the real world; I'm in dire need of escape. So finally, I picked up the book Eragon; immersed myself into it and loved it. After finishing the first one, I got the second Eldest and even fell in love with the story more. The Inheritance Trilogy, a three-part story where these two books are part of, is written by Christopher Paolini. The third book has not come out yet, neither its supposed to be title was ever announced or the publishing date, and so I wait.

This is a story of the second rise of dragon riders in a fantasy land very reminiscent of Middle-Earth of The Lord of the Rings, where elves and dwarves live together with humans, of vile creatures such as Urgals (more like orcs but more intelligent), of Ra'zac mounted on a winged creature terrorizing the land (similar to Ringwraiths but not quite), and with a feared mad-man Galbatorix (may not be as comparable to Sauron, but close to). The Inheritance Trilogy is not as complicated as The Lord of the Rings and some of the parts are very much like Star Wars, but still it is an engaging story to read, considering that this was first conceptualized by a young boy still in his teens.

Now that the DVD is coming out, maybe I should get myself a copy, but I wouldn't keep my hopes up as book fans didn't like the movie adaptation.