{"id":745,"date":"2006-12-26T17:16:00","date_gmt":"2006-12-26T17:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2006\/12\/eragon-movie-add-fantasy-ingredients.html"},"modified":"2006-12-26T17:16:00","modified_gmt":"2006-12-26T17:16:00","slug":"eragon-movie-add-fantasy-ingredients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/12\/eragon-movie-add-fantasy-ingredients.html","title":{"rendered":"“Eragon” (The Movie): Add Fantasy Ingredients, Then Stir"},"content":{"rendered":"

I finally bit the bullet and went to see “Eragon<\/a>,” the first of three films based on the bestselling “Inheritance” trilogy by Christopher Paolini<\/a>. Paolini is a shockingly young (i.e., born in 1983) author who took the book world by storm as a teenager with the release of “Eragon<\/a>,” a novel he began writing at age 16. He quickly followed up that much-heralded debuted with “Eldest<\/a>,” Book Two of the trilogy. (Book Three is yet to come.) I haven’t read the novel–unusual for me, given that I am an utter fantasy geek, but only because I’ve heard from too many trusted writer-reader friends that “Eragon” is <\/em>an impressive piece of work, for a teenager<\/em>. In other words, not the best read for an adult.<\/p>\n

But I figured it was worth my money at the box office, at least.<\/p>\n

“Eragon” the film<\/a> has all the trimmings of a true fantasy epic: a young, handsome farm boy who has a great destiny before him and must rise to the occasion; a mentor who will help him get there; arduous journeys; the triumph of evil over good–for now (we know that all that will change, of course); a one-dimensional villain-king; an evil sorcerer; magical creatures; and, last but not least, a beautiful warrior-princess, whom we all know is destined for our hero.<\/p>\n

So, in many ways it was fun as a film, but I couldn’t help myself from checking off, one-by-one, the formulaic ingredients that Paolini made sure to include in his plot, making it clearly a member of the “classic” fantasy genre. At moments, I secretly delighted in thinking: A-ha! This is the “Harry Potter” bit here (a scar that marks our hero’s destiny and<\/em> one that burns when danger is near). And a-ha! This is the “Lord of the Rings” bit now (well, basically the whole movie takes after Tolkien, complete with a Saruman-type bad wizard, his own dark stronghold with an army of weapon-building grotesque orc-like creatures, and lots of journeying across hills, etc. on horseback). And, no way! There’s even some “Star Wars” moments thrown in for good measure (think: oh no! Not my uncle!).<\/p>\n

But when you think this was all imagined by a teenager, you have to admit: impressive indeed. He included all<\/em> the proper fantasy ingredients, with even a little imagination of his own thrown in. So the movie is a nice afternoon activity. But the book, weighing in at a hefty 538 pages–I’m not sure I am geeky enough to give it a go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I finally bit the bullet and went to see “Eragon,” the first of three films based on the bestselling “Inheritance” trilogy by Christopher Paolini. 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