Christopher Paolini wrote Eragon when he was about 15 and I enjoyed the first book. Didn’t really like the second. Either the novelty had worn off, or perhaps his parents didn’t help with this one as much. So now they’ve made a movie.
This movie could have been decent — it could never be great because the source material had certain limitations that come with a teenaged author. However, I am sad to report, it wasn’t very good. Why? Mostly the acting. Or lack of it. The acting was pretty bad, all around. They picked their two leads based on looks and not talent. Eragon may be a likeable sort, but his acting is more wooden that a two-by-four. I really wanted to like this film, but I couldn’t. Brom (Jeremy Irons) was the best actor of the lot and Murtagh wasn’t bad either, but it seemed like he was lusting after Eragon a bit more than was healthy and I’m quite sure that wasn’t in the book.
The dialogue was bad, but it comes from the book and teenagers aren’t noted for inspired dialogue in their first novels, are they? A lot of the problem in the film comes from uneven editing as well as the fact huge chunks of the book were compressed into 30 seconds leaving an unintelligible mess.
So, I say, read the book again instead of seeing the movie. And don’t bother reading the second book, either. You will be disappointed.