
Why the Bad Press?

I don't understand why all the bad press has been coming out about Eragon. Sure, I normally take the Hollywood critics with a grain of salt, but with all the poor reviews coming out, my sodium intake is way too high!
Given, Eragon is not high art. It won't make any great contribution to the discipline of film theory, but it is a solid sword and sorcery offering. I enjoyed it tremendously.
I think many people (or at the very least, a lot of young guys of my generation) will get a kick out of the premise: a seemingly insignificant young man finds a dragon egg that will launch him into a greater world of magic, wonder, and the fight against evil. And, really, who hasn't daydreamed about dragons as a child. Or if you're a nerd like me, I can rephrase the question: "Who doesn't daydream about dragons on a regular basis."
But seriously, this is a great film for the whole family. There is a small amount of what they call "fantasy violence" (which means only the bad non-human critters get killed on-screen), but nothing to the extent of, say, Braveheart. The themes are pretty simple, and everything conflict in the film is presented in convenient black and white dualisms, so you don't have to explain any morally ambiguous actions to the kids.
It's not a smart film, but adults will still enjoy the light humor, the fairly standard adventure story that you need not pay constant attention to, and the uplifting fantasy aspects (it didn't make me sob, like after Gandalf bit it in the Mines of Moria, anyway).
Most amazing of all is that a teenager wrote the book this was based on. True, he's no Fritz Lieber or Terry Pratchett, but I have to give credit to the kid - I know what I was up to when I was a teenager, and it certainly wasn't writing novels!
So, once again, I think the critics are off base. Maybe they need to relax and have a little fun with their movies, rather than overanalyzing them.
Highly recommended!
Review ID: 10000000003122894

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