Okay, so I feel that I'm being rather generous with my ratings, (four star - that's nearly five!) but this is simply because I couldn't bear to put this film below average when there is such a vast amount out there that are so much worse... The problem with Eragon isn't that it's a bad film, but that it is a terrible adaption and it is in no way what it could have been, had the producers had the slightest interest in maintaining SOME symmetry with the book - rather than making a quick buck from a film that you don't need to have read the story beforehand - and to be sincere doesn't need to have half a brain cell - to understand.

Anyway, admittedly there is a lot wrong with this film, but there is also quite a bit that makes it enjoyable to watch. One of them being Jeremy Irons. Though in truth he struggles along with some regrettably clichéd dialogue, he does manage to bring some charm and warm into a film that is sadly two-dimensional. The villagers and characters which I like to call two-liners (i.e. they need to be there but if they weren't you wouldn't miss them) - not least of all Joss Stone (!!!!!??????) in the most random cameo of the twenty-first century - lacked any sort of motivation, charisma or indeed personalities of their own when unconnected to the story. Does EVERYONE in this world only talk about either the current tyrannical situation or the good old days? And if so, why haven't they formed their own rebellion?

And with this I would like to conclude - for any budding film directors/screenwriters or adapters - I think I have discovered the solution to making a successful film from a book. Obviously, you will never satisfy the purists (they will niggle at ANY detail they can grab their hands on) - but the trick is to leave AS MUCH AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN as it was and - now heed this carefully - MORE. My example is this. In widely successful films such as The Dark Knight, LOTR etc, constant references are made to things that only readers of the books or comic fanatics will know about, and when the film comes out on DVD, avid fans can make it a sport to notice these little hidden things or at least have the details of their passion acknowledged. You gotta give the hardcore fans a nod (- better yet, you gotta be a hardcore fan yourself to direct it, or at least have several crew members who are... that should be a law. Only hardcore fans can make films from books. Why did I not run for Prime Minister??) What's more, this encourages softcore fans to become hardcore fans. In films like Eragon, there is no desire to watch again for fear of having missed something because only the bare minimum was included. That is what makes a film just a film, not an obsession.

• Who gave Saphira an Irish accent, when we have seen her from birth to know that she has never visited the Green Isle?
• What the hell does Galbatorix DO all day?
• Why do Horst, Garrow and Sloan all have really similar faces?
• Why does Arya show no traits superior to a human - apart from the ability to quip whilst in tremendous pain - despite being an elf?
• Where did Arya get her hoodie from?
• What is the point of Nasuada, when they clearly won't make a sequel? (I hope.)
• Why does Angela refer to herself in the third person?
• Why is her name so un-mythically Angela?
• Who the f*** IS Angela anyway?