Eragon, the book by Christopher Paolini, is an action - packed, adventurous tale about a young boy who embarks on a perilous stone whilst out in the forest and he has no idea what he is getting himself into. He doesn't know about his status of Dragon Rider or why he has been picked amongst other things.
Eragon, the DVD is just a tickle on the adventures of Eragon and doesn't show the true meaning of the story. One specific reason why this DVD is so fast - paced is because it is only 99mins long. Whilst the book portrays a life of travelling along deserts for days on end, the film just shows the majority of fights, deaths etc. There is no sense of tention within the film and it doesn't show all the dilemas you will find in the book. I also thought this was a rushed job and if they had spent that little bit more time on it, this would have been the film of the century.
Most of the book is Eragon and Brom trying to make their way to a city to fight the Urgals and destroy Galbatorix once and for all. The DVD shows no evidence of this and just sails through the chapters without considering the major issues within the book.
While the fights in the book last for almost two chapters, the movie shows them for mere minutes before quickly moving on to the next subject and not taking into account all the tiny bits which make the book such a huge hit. The book quotes that it was 'The Sunday Times' bestseller but I would strongly say that this film would struggle to make the the top 100 movies of 2007.
One good thing, if anything, in this film is the special effects which have obviously been taken care of very precisely and carefully. The characters in the book are not nearly as portrayed in the film as they are in the book.
I understand that they can't put everything into a film but I feel that it wouldn't hurt them to make this film at least two and a half hours. I read this book thinking not only that it would be a strange and good book to read but also that when the film came out, I would be prepared to be dazzled by it's contents. I didn't see that in the film and frankly. I am dissappointed in this project. This film had the idea, it just didn't have the 'wow' factor and I think that's what people look for when they watch a film that has been made from a book.
My advice to anyone who wants to buy this short film is that you read the book first and if you feel what I felt from the book, don't buy the film.
I hope you enjoyed reading my review and hope you read many of my future reviews.