Eragon: Absconded or Adapted?
Differentiating accuracy
Differentiating accuracy
This piece of writing is mainly an article discussing the flaws in the movie, from the perspective of a fan of the Inheritance Cycle. It is more of a list of problems with the movie than a review, but due to its structure and topic, it could also be read as a review. If you do not want to know all the details of the movie's flaws, read the first paragraphs and Final Conclsion . This is an excerpt from an anthology that I wrote for a past project of mine, refitted with images and proper code to suit this site's readability. Any grammatical mistakes found are there because this was put together quite quickly, if you notice any, just let my know and I will try to edit them out.
Now with the damned dragon hatched, the shade sends other creatures of his creation to kill the new rider. These creatures happen to be the Ra-Zac, which from the audience's perspective, are maggots, flies, bees, and other hideous insects (no butterflies) bound together with some kind of dark magic. Funnily enough though, this is where the director's own imagination comes short, as all that the shade says to create his minions is "Ra-Zac! Ra-Zac!" over and over. Anyway, these minions happen to be a complete race of their own, mysterious to the highest degree, but the creatures are just ugly human-like beasts. The book describes them as having eyes the size of a human fist, a long, sharp beak, and a bald head, as black as their souls. Curiously enough, these Ra-Zac do not seem to be the same maggoty ones of Fangmeier's creation.
Characters
Early on in the movie, after Eragon finds his stone, some soldiers come and take some boys for the army. Those boys were the sons of a man named Horst, the village smith, and his sons don't ever join the army. One would guess that the director could just have been trying to paint an image of a corrupt army, or on a crueller, bigger picture, how corrupt Galbatorix is. These particular sons are important, however, as they remain with their father throughout the rest of the series, and are somewhat important minor characters. Well, Horst is one of the important fixtures in Brom and Eragon's surroundings in this scene. He is here whining about his poor sons that are, in fact, just back in his house. Wait, no they aren't, because the director killed them off practically! Anyways, this problem smacked me in the face at multiple occasions, but in different circumstances each. For example, Eragon's cousin, Roran, leaves for nowhere apparently because of the soldier's recruitment drive, while in the book he just leaves for a week or two to pick up some materials for his boss, Horst. There is also no mention of Katrina, Roran's love, who is also the daughter of Sloan, the butcher Eragon tries to trade with. The butcher and daughter are probably the most important villagers, besides Eragon and Roran, of course. They have very pivotal roles in the plot-line of the whole series, not just the first book.
Other characters left out throughout the course of the movie that could have held minor roles in the book are the traders that visit the village. They do not hold a strong role in the book, besides the fact that is when Eragon finds out that the stone is a actually hollow, so their omission was not missed as much as others.
More importantly then the traders in Carvahall (Eragon's village), are citizens from cities that Eragon and Brom visit during their travels. Besides many of these cities being left out in the first place, the main characters met in the more important of these cities, should not have been. The two characters that come from Eragon and Brom's visit to Teirm include Angela the Herbalist, and Jeod. They both happen to be neighbours as well. Angela the Herbalist was briefly used in the movie, simply using the name Angela only, and read Eragon's fortune. This is true to the book, but the location and placement of the event are incorrect. Angela has a were-cat as a companion, named Solembaum, who is just as intelligent as Saphira. Solembaum provides Eragon with a prophecy that is very, very important in the latter novels. The fortune Angela reads to Eragon in the movie is accurate enough to the book, and can be passed gracefully. Angela is also apparently a resident of the town Daret, which is the only village that Eragon and Brom visit on their travels in the movie, besides Gil'ead. In the book, she lives in Teirm beside Jeod. Jeod holds a very important role in all of the novels as well. He is a past friend of Brom's, who helped Brom steal Saphira's egg from the king, in the book that is. The movie chooses to omit that part of the story. He also helps Brom and Eragon find the Ra-Zac's hidden hideout, by providing them with information that could lead them to the Ra-Zac.
Final Conclusion
The movie Eragon is a very controversial movie. Some people may claim that is a fairly well-made movie, and if it wasn't based off of a book it would be deemed more successful. In my opinion, however, I thought it made way too many mistakes, and was too poorly put together to be deemed a good movie. It changed way too many things that were vital to the story. The story, in itself, was jumbled and much too short to leave the audience with any sense of immersion at all. The story is too much like the cream-of-the-crop to be intuitive or conceptual at all. Anyone can compare the plot with others of the same design, such as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.
Recommendation: I wouldn't even recommend watching this movie illegally, if you are a die-hard fantasy fan, you may want to watch it. If you are a die-hard fan, I suggest you read the body of this review first.
EDIT: If you read all of this, you are deserving of a slice of my New Year's chocolate cake.
