*** Spoiler Alert ***

I watched Eragon Saturday night. I did not have much to do and my wife wanted to watch something that she could watch while doing other stuff. So, I went with Eragon.

Eragon fills just about every fantasy movie cliche they could find, but the whole thing felt rushed. In each of these following plot segments it seemed like they could have spent a little longer on developing what was going on:

Boy finds dragon egg and it hatches next day.
Boy finds mentor and they become friends.
Boy does reckless feat to help mentor and hurts dragon.
Boy does more reckless feat to save girl and mentor dies.
Boy finds friends who helps him get to allies.
Boy joins allies and leads them in battle.
Boy fights evil sorcerer and kills him.

Just like that the movie is over and when you stop to think about it you realize the whole movie was one plot point and then the next with no explanation of why Eragon would make the choices he does.

Overall, I’m disappointed in this movie. I was not expecting much more than a made for Sci-Fi Channel movie, but at least their movies don’t rush everything along. Not only was the whole movie rushed, but the end of the movie clearly points to a sequel and leaves about 1/2 the story hanging. I don’t mind movies that point to a sequel, but the main story plot of the movie should still be wrapped up. In Eragon the main plot starts off with how an evil king rules the land and how a group of “rebels” need a dragon rider to lead them in the fight against him. However, at the end of the movie the king is still alive and the lands are still under his control. The dragon rider, Eragon, does lead the rebels but they have only succeeded in destroying most of their own mountain hideout and defending themselves from the kings army. There were some cool fight scenes, but nothing truly spectacular.

The movie is not terrible. Just not good. At least he did not kiss the girl, that he just met, at the end. They must have saved that for the sequel.