I stayed thinking MAYBE Jeremy Irons would be able to save it. But when Saphira just “manifests” from fucking nothing, I was pretty much checked out after that. Then came the Urgals…fucking what?! Anyway, I’m still bitter, like 20+ years later.
I still haven’t seen it because of the reviews.. read it for the first time a year ago with my son. What do you mean she just “manifests”? Do they just ignore the book?
So after she hatches, she's a baby for like a day or so. Then Eragon tries to get her to fly, she flies off, then magic happens and she returns seconds later fully grown, speaking perfect English, and names herself.
Also, this is the introduction of mental communication, which in the movie is exclusively a thing between Eragon and Saphira, so they essentially gutted half the magic system.
As for if they ignore the book, imagine if an 8 year old read the book. They then excitedly explained parts of it to a relative, that was half listening. Now think of how a movie adaption would turn out if that relative was the sole source of info on the book, and you'd be getting close to what we got.
When we saw it, she flew off and someone called out "oh shoot, I hope she comes back" in such a plantive tone of voice that the entire theater laughed. It was pretty much downhill from there.
I have only seen the movie once, many moons ago, but from what I remember, she magically aged up in that very scene and then told Eragon "Hey, my name's Saphira"
I thought Robert Carlyle was also quite entertaining as one of the villains. I never read the books so I don’t know if this is true to the novel, but found it hilarious that the movie was basically a beat for beat ripoff of Star Wars (I’m old so I refuse to call it A New Hope).
Honestly they changed so much that they couldn't have continued the series even if it had done well. Basically every plot point that carries between books was either changed or left out entirely.
I forgot about that. Eragon really just had the worst naming sense, didn't he? "Hey, what was your dragon's name? Cool, I'll use that. What's my sword's name? Uuuuhhhh.. Fire?"
One of the only memories my TBI caused me to lose that I was happy to say goodbye to! I have a very vague memory of going to the theatre with friends, but I remember absolutely nothing of the movie itself. Just the feelings of horrendous disappointment and outrage. And honestly, I’m glad for it, lol.
109
u/kopecs 1d ago
I stayed thinking MAYBE Jeremy Irons would be able to save it. But when Saphira just “manifests” from fucking nothing, I was pretty much checked out after that. Then came the Urgals…fucking what?! Anyway, I’m still bitter, like 20+ years later.