Eragon (2006)

Director: Stefen Fangmeier

Cast: Ed Speleers as Eragon, Jeremy Irons as Brom, Sienna Guillory as Arya, Robert Carlyle as Durza, John Malkovich as Galbatorix, Garrett Hedlund as Murtagh, Alun Armstrong as Uncle Garrow, Christopher Egan as Roran (as Chris Egan), Gary Lewis as Hrothgar, Djimon Hounsou as Ajihad, Rachel Weisz as Saphira (voice), Richard Rifkin as Horst, Steve Speirs as Sloan, Joss Stone as Angela, Michael Mehlmann as Villager #1 (as Michael A. Mehlmann)

When I first heard that a movie is going to be made by the book
"Eragon" by Christopher Paolini, I must say I was very delighted, and I
was even more delighted when I heard that Stefen Fangmeier will be the
director. I have read the book, and thaught:"What a great movie this is
going to be". Unfortunately, I was wrong. First of all, I would dare to
say that half of the events that happened in the book weren't shown in
the movie at all(reason: Lord of the Rings has less then 400 pages and
the movie lasts around 3 hours; Eragon has around 500 pages and it
lasts around hour and a half). As a result, instead of complexed,
unpredictable fantasy plot you get simple, one-way heading fairy tale.
Characters that play very significent role in book(like Murtagh, Ajihad
and Angela) are hardly even mentioned in the movie, so that it becomes
centered on pretty much only 3 characters-Eragon, Saphira and Brom.
Villains and locations lack imagination, so they look cheap and
ordinary. Choice of actors is, in my opinion, good, except Edward
Speleers. There are way too much "memorable quotes" in the movie, so
that movie becomes kind of too much theatrical.Everybody, from director
to actors failed, but still, I personally bealive that the biggest
failure is Peter Buchman, screenwriter. Although he had a fantastic
material to work on, he managed to ruin it, and make a pathetic
screenplay from a fantastic bestseller. Only bright side of the movie
is always top-of-the-class John Malkovich(King Galbatorix), pretty
solid performance by Jeremy Irons (Brom), but most of all dragon
Saphira (voice by Rachel Weisz, whose vocal abilities are on very
desirable level)