arosedec

First things first, I have never read the book therefore I am merely commenting on the film itself and not its relation to the book. After having been spoiled by Peter Jackson and his treatment of The Lord of the Rings, the bar has been raised for epic fantasy films. That being said, Eragon does not even come close in that area. All of the characters feel incredibly superficial and the only inspired performance is that of Jeremy Irons. While I love John Malkovich and think he's a wonderful actor, I felt like he was just going through the motions and not really giving it his all. Edward Speleers did give a nice performance but there was no real progression in the character — his performance did not indicate any growth in the character, he was exactly the same as when the story started. In all fairness, the performance issues could be the result of poor directing and a so-so screenplay. Actors can only do so much with what they're given. The film was lacking in any emotion, I did not care what happened to the characters — except maybe for the dragon which was cg. Eragon did not feel like a feature film — it felt more like a SciFi channel original movie. That being said, I'm not upset that I spent the money to see it (although I'm glad that I was able to get a student ticket) however, like the acting performances — I was uninspired.

This is a beautiful movie. It takes a little bit to get into it, but once you become aware of what's going on — it transforms from a visually stun art house flick into a wonderful love story. The cinematography was breathtaking and the acting was well done. I went into this film not know what to expect except that it would be visually stunning and I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and beauty of the story. It reminded me a lot of What Dreams May Come in the visuals and the love story. I was sad to see that there were only four other people in the theater at the showing I attended. Of course, it doesn't have explosions or graphic sex scenes, it's just a beautiful film and that is obviously not where Hollywood is right now — that's a shame. With this film, Mr. Aronofsky has thrown his hat into the ring as a worthy successor to Stanley Kubric.

This was the movie that caused me to fall in love with Danny Kaye. I still love watching this movie more than 20 years after I saw it for the first time on television. I love his gentle nature with the children, in particular the little girl he sings "Thumbalina" to. Fabricated or not, this is one of his best films showing the true diversity of an incredibly talented man. Danny Kaye was surely one of the last of a dying Hollywood breed.