Eragon (Motion Picture)

Fangmeier, Stefen (Director). Eragon. DVD. 20th Century Fox, 2007.



Plot Summary
A mysterious stone that Eragon finds turns out to be a dragon egg and thus Eragon becomes a dragon rider. In the tyrannical king's quest for power, he killed all of the other dragons; so, the birth of Eragon's dragon means hope for the land. The Varden, who are a band of rebels are particularly eager for Eragon to arrive. Pursued by the king's minions, Eragon and his teacher Brom set off towards the Varden's land. Along the way, Eragon learns about the magic of dragon riders and makes some friends. All of Eragon's work  is in preparation for a battle with the sorcerer Durza, who represents the evil king.

Critical evaluation
Eragon is a fairly unoriginal quest story; however, lots of successful films are standard hero's quests. As far as the story goes, Eragon is exciting and thus the film is entertaining. Unfortunately, much of the dialogue is cheesy and Eragon's good looks are overdone. The final battle scene was dramatic, well directed  and artistic. Its a shame that the scene was so short. Overall, the movie was good but not great.

Readers Annotations
It was believed that the only dragon left belonged to the evil king. So when Eragon finds a dragon, he finds that he is destined to battle the king, but first he must learn what it means to be a dragon rider.

Information About the Director
Based on the novel by Christopher Paolini, Eragon was directed by first time director Stefen Fangmeier. Fangmeier is better known as a visual effects supervisor.

Genre
Fantasy

Curriculum Ties
none

Booktalking Ideas
Explain the legend, then end with "that dragon rider has appeared and his name is Eragon"

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grade 8-10 Rated PG-13

Controversial Subject Matter and Defense of Ideas
There is some violence, mostly against monsters but also against humans.

The scenes are not particularly bloody or gruesome- just dramatic. Also, it is fantasy.

Why Movie Included
I haven't read the books, but I was interested to know more about the series. Maybe I should have just read the books.