Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Posted: **Wed Dec 13, 2006 0:00 -0700**

Just caught an advanced screening of Eragon at Disneyland. Overall, good movie. A bit short though, at around 96 minutes... I give it a B+ (had the movie been over 2 hours it would have scored an A). If you like dragons, you'll love this one! Worthy!! Plus there are two more movies to look forward to...

Posted: **Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:47 -0700**

Hmm...I'm planning on seeing the movie but havent read to book yet...

Is it like, similar to Harry Potter or something?

Posted: **Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:59 -0700**

Sort of yes. There is some magic casting. It's more like Lord of the Rings meets Dragonheart. But the plot is actually more similar to Star Wars: A New Hope. In fact there is one scene with Eragon looking off into the sunset that is nearly identical to Luke looking over Tatooine's sunset in A New Hope. Plus there are quite a few character parallels that are obviously more than just coincidence.

Posted: **Wed Dec 13, 2006 15:10 -0700**

Heh, I heard complants of the book Eragon being a ripoff of lord of the rings. But thats being kind've harsh, sense alot of fantasy stories are copys of lord of the rings. Dungeans and dragons especially.

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2006 13:32 -0700**

You do have a point there.

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2006 13:53 -0700**

SonicSamurai wrote:Heh, I heard complants of the book Eragon being a ripoff of lord of the rings. But thats being kind've harsh, sense alot of fantasy stories are copys of lord of the rings. Dungeans and dragons especially.

I thought it sounded more like Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series.

I heard Eragon was written when the author was 15 years old. True?

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2006 23:32 -0700**

Not sure, but the movie bears no major plot or character parallels to LOTR. No elves, no dwarves, no hobbits. There are orc-like creatures. But like I said, the story is actually a fantasy retelling of Star Wars: A New Hope. In more ways than one. So I guess that makes it a fantasy retelling of Akira Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress"??

Posted: **Fri Dec 15, 2006 0:31 -0700**

Stan Sakai wrote:
I heard Eragon was written when the author was 15 years old. True?

That's the story they were pushing and it would have been nice if he actually did write it on his own but his parents are both editors and they helped their son with a lot of the writing. I believe it was rewritten so much that everything that he actually wrote was lost in the revision.

I believe he did write the 2nd book on his own when he turned 19 or 20 though. He was home schooled and I'm sure he's intelligent but it would have been nice if all the hype about him writing it at the age of 15 were all true.

Posted: **Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:24 -0700**

What I read was that the author was home schooled, and graduated at the age of 15. At that point he began writing the first book. I'm not sure how old he was when he finished the book or how much help he had, but I say, good for him!

It sounds to me like this family did a great job home schooling regardless. It's not a schooling situation that's for everyone, but I have to say, a lot of time is wasted in schools. If someone knows what they want to do, they make great use of their time in a home school environment.

Posted: **Mon Dec 25, 2006 16:35 -0700**

Yea, I was home schooled for 5 years by my mom, and she really encouraged me to open up more of my creativity and art, because i always liked drawing fantasy/sci-fi characters and stories. Though i never wrote a book of anykind, if i did, it would be a comic book. Anyways, i've been hearing good reviews for the book and movie for earagon, and my mom got me the book for Christmas this year, so i have been wanting to read it. Though, i think i want to see the movie first.

Posted: **Thu Dec 28, 2006 17:49 -0700**

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm half way through the book and enjoying it immensely!

Posted: **Thu Dec 28, 2006 22:58 -0700**

Uh oh, then you might be disappointed with the movie as I hear they changed quite a bit. Just a warning!

Posted: **Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:13 -0700**

a pretty bad note on imdb, will they release Eragon 2 ?

i saw it yesterday, i found it skin-deep, not so bad, but some depth in the story would have been great. The quick end is quite disapointing after the beginning of the movie.

Posted: **Tue Jan 02, 2007 19:06 -0700**

Yea, i saw it too, i kind've liked it, but i thought it was alittle too short. Even so, it was an okay movie, and the to be continued ending kind've makes you want to see the next movie. Though, i dont get why they would go and change so much of the book's story, so i've heard anyways.