For the most part, from what I saw, I think the movie looks
like it’s probably on pace with what I had envisioned when reading the book.
I’m hoping that seeing Arya moving and fighting and
speaking, that the nay-sayers will finally give her a break for not having black
hair. The scene of her sending Saphira’s egg away by magic is exactly how I
thought it should look. Since Arya’s magic is green, I really expected the
flash of magic to be green though…in Eragon, Chapter 1-Prologue: Shade of Fear,
pg 4, “A flash of emerald light briefly illuminated the forest, and the stone
vanished”, but I guess you can argue that the reason for the flash of blue
magic is because Saphira’s Egg (she being a magical living being) has blue magic
so…ok…sorta explains it…either color, you have to admit, IT LOOKS SO COOL!
I love hearing Brom’s voice, as I said in a previous
editorial, I love Jeremy Irons and he will depict Brom exquisitely.
The scene where Eragon goes after the Urgals in Yazuac and
kills them with only a bow and arrow while yelling “Brisingr” is perfect! Love
it!!!
I know that there was a lot of talk about the Urgals not
looking as everyone had thought they would look. Ok, maybe when you saw a still
picture of them where they were posing for the camera, you might have gotten the
idea that they were taking their family portraits…hey, even Urgal moms want
family pictures to hang on the wall! LOL… Maybe by looking at those pictures
they didn’t look like they could battle their way out of a paper bag, but when
you see them in motion (as in the trailer), they take on a different feel, I
think they look fine and will portray the characters the way they were
envisioned.
My problem with the trailer and I guess now with the movie
also is Durza. Physically he looks fine, but in the battle scene, which I
believe to be at Farthen Dur, he appears to be riding a dragon. Durza doesn’t
have a dragon! Where the heck did that dragon come from?
Isn’t one of the main premises of the Inheritance Trilogy
that dragons are a dying breed? And that is one of the reasons why the
Dragonriders are also a dying breed? That the only known living dragon is King
Galbatorix’s black dragon Shruikan? And that the king had 3 dragon eggs, one of
which Brom stole, then Arya protected it till she sent it away with magic and
this is the same egg that was found by and hatched for Eragon as Saphira?
Don’t get me wrong…I understand that some changes to a
story are made for dramatic effect, but Fox seems to have changed a big part of
the core story.
I don’t get the blue stone in Eragon’s sword either. That
was Morzan’s sword…he had red magic…why would Morzan have a blue stone in his
sword? A blue stone in a sword that was created for Brom or for Eragon would
make sense…they both have blue magic, blue dragons…yeah, great that would work.
But Zar’roc wasn’t created for Brom or Eragon, it was Morzan’s sword! Possibly
the blue stone works for someone who hasn’t read the books, but to those of us
who have read the books and love them, we know where that sword originated from
– and a blue stone in that sword doesn’t make sense. At least it doesn’t make
sense to me…I know that I don’t speak for all of the rest of you. I had said in
a previous editorial that the change of color of the stone in Zar’roc shouldn’t
be that big of a deal…but now that I’ve seen it…it is, and I don’t care for the
change. Hey, girls permitted to change her mind, isn’t she?
I had put out a plea in a previous editorial to Fox to
please “use” someone who cares about the story/books to help ensure that the
important points are upheld. It doesn’t appear that that has happened.
Please remember that there are 2 more books that make up
this trilogy. If you want to maintain the audience and bring them along for the
visual ride, you have to give them something that feels familiar to them so that
they feel at home with the story and want to continue to visit it again and
again. This is how you retain the audience into movies 2-Eldest and 3-as of the
date of this editorial, untitled.
I’ve no doubt that “Eragon” the movie will make a lot of
money. Curiosity alone will bring the books fans in at least once. But, where
you make the big bucks is if they come back a second or third time, then can’t
wait for the next chapter to appear in their local movie theatre and tell all
their friends. Word of mouth can be a wonderful thing...or not.
Take a lesson from New Line Cinema/Warner Brothers and of
course Peter Jackson. When The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) came out, I was there
for the midnight show on opening night and I was there the following day also
for each one. Heck, I bought my tickets the first day they went on sale. Then
I went back to the theatre at least twice for each movie. When the DVD’s went
on sale, I purchased the theatrical version of each movie as well as the
extended versions also. I love the LOTR Trilogy, and I believe that the core
story was upheld beautifully by Peter Jackson and his team…what this brought to
the studios that believed in him and backed him on this project, it brought them
a ton of money and the best – by far – multi portioned movie of all time.
I’m hoping that you get my point. Other than the fact that
Donna is obsessive…point being, if you maintain the core storyline and stay true
to the basic concepts in the story, the book fans will follow you into the movie
theatre over and over again. But if you betray the story and disappoint them
with your initial offering in the trilogy, you may not get them back for that
second or third adventure.
Despite how this editorial may sound, I am keeping an open
mind about the movie and yes I will be there on opening day, but the question
is…will I be back?
Eragon Shadeslayer :: The #1 Online Guide to the Inheritance Cycle!
