Eragon

Over the Christmas break, I went and saw the movie Eragon with my brother and husband. I think the book is a good story. It's a fun adventure, there are dragons, elves, and magic, and evil things that need to be vanquished. When I have kids, I will read Paolini's trilogy to them.

But, I think the book as literature is extremely derivative. The plot of Eragon is essentially that of Star Wars, rewritten in a fantasy world instead of space. A princess who supports a rebel group who sends something vital to their cause to a distant land, where it's found by a young boy who is then mentored by a hermit. Sound familiar to anyone? Even the most basic concept of the book--Eragon and his fantastic connection to the dragon Saphira--is almost directly lifted from Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern series. A 2004 article in USA Today asks the question, "Could teenager Christopher Paolini be the next J.R.R. Tolkien?" If Paolini is to stand on the same level as Tolkien, he needs to come up with some of his own material, and lift less of it directly from authors he so obviously admires. At this point, comparisons between Paolini and Tolkien do nothing but insult Tolkien, who had the original ideas that Paolini blatantly copies, with little or no revision--Lothlorien, Helm's Deep, even the nature of elves. As my dad asked about Eragon, "Isn't he that guy from The Lord of the Rings?"

The movie reflects the problems of the book quite well. There are a lot of very grandiose shots of Brom and Eragon traveling across mountains and wide open fields. Seems like not only did Paolini take a lot of his content from Tolkien, but Eragon director Stefan Fangmeier also took a lesson or two from LOTR director Peter Jackson. But the plot and dialogue of the movie are lacking. Many elements from the book are eliminated, which leaves the plot even more scarce than it originally was. I did like the special-effects dragon, but it wasn't enough to make up for the lack of real content (not just landscape shots) and provocative dialogue.

Thus, both the book and movie Eragon have the same problem--they attempt to copy the style and epic nature of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings--but because of a lack of substance and original dialogue, they come across as second rate imitations.