The Hobbit Movie Forum

[Cbernui]

Ok, personally I think the Eragon movie was absolutely HORRIBLE, and not true to the book at all. There needs to be a GOOD remake of this movie. I say that Peter Jackson would do a fantastic job. Who else thinks this is a good idea? If not, why?

[Gandalfs Beard]

Paolini deserves a lot of credit for what he's achieved at such a young age. But I'm not particularly enamoured of his series to begin with.

Having said that, it was a decent enough story (though very derivative), that it could have been made into an entertaining film. I don't doubt an exceptional director like Jackson could have made it into a film worth watching .

At this point, I'm not sure it would be worth the effort though to do a remake. The source material itself would have to be stronger.

If any Tolkien "Rip-Off" should be turned into a Film franchise, it should probably be the Shannara books, which morphed into a quite original series as it went along.

Anyway, I'm sorry I'm not more help in your Quest.

GB

[Eldorion]

not true to the book at all. There needs to be a GOOD remake of this movie.

I agree that it wasn't particularly like the book (especially killing the Ra'zac .. was the writer of that screen high?). However, I don't think that a faithful adaptation would be that much since Paolini is fundamentally unoriginal and not particularly phenomenal. Eragon was a fun read (at least it was when I was about 10 when I first read it) but Eldest and Brisingr are downright BAD. In my not-so-humble opinion.

I say that Peter Jackson would do a fantastic job. Who else thinks this is a good idea? If not, why?

See above. Besides, having PJ do it would just drive home how derivative of LOTR it is.

[Eldorion]

Paolini deserves a lot of credit for what he's achieved at such a young age. But I'm not particularly enamoured of his series to begin with.

Quite frankly I don't think he deserves anything near the amount of credit he is given. There are a lot of teenage fanfiction writers out there (though of course he isn't a teenager anymore and hasn't been for years) who are much better than Paolini. The difference is that they are usually able to see their flaws and they're parents do not own a small publishing company to get them the visibility to attract larger publishing houses.

His main accomplishment was persevering enough to finish as much as he had (regardless of how unoriginal, bloated, and bad it is), but remember that he has essentially no other jobs. He finished homeschool at 15 shortly before he began Eragon and as far as I know has not gone to college or gotten a job (it's not like he needs the money).

[Gandalfs Beard]

I just wish I was Paolini . Who wouldn't enjoy rolling in the bucks like that?

As much as I think his books are a bit boring, I am willing to give someone who achieves his level of popularity a little benefit of the doubt. Same goes for the Ann Rice for tweens series Twilight .

GB

[Eldorion]

I just wish I was Paolini . Who wouldn't enjoy rolling in the bucks like that?

I wouldn't mind being the CEO of McDonald's then ... just so long as I didn't have to actually eat that food more than once a month max.

I am willing to give someone who achieves his level of popularity a little benefit of the doubt.

I actually did enjoy Eragon quite a bit and eagerly awaited the releases of both the second and third books. After reading them I really don't feel I can slog through any more of his verbal diarrhea though. Especially because the third book which was supposedly too long to fit into one volume, thus forcing him to split it and make the trilogy a four book cycle essentially had no plot. It's like someone took the first 20 minutes of The Return of the Jedi (the entire series lifts large portions of its plot from Star Wars) and made it a 700+ page novel with a lot of wandering around doing a bunch of random stuff.

Same goes for the Ann Rice for tweens series Twilight .

TWILIGHT?! How could you GB?

[Gandalfs Beard]

I'm just saying we shouldn't be as fanatically dismissive of cheap (but possibly entertaining) knockoff series as their fans are of the Good Stuff .

Even though I am of a similar opinion as you regarding those series Eldorion, I figure they must have some merit to have claimed such large followings.

GB

[Eldorion]

I'm just saying we shouldn't be as fanatically dismissive of cheap (but possibly entertaining) knockoff series as their fans are of the Good Stuff .

When I'm dismissive of something I generally try to be for good reason.

Even though I am of a similar opinion as you regarding those series Eldorion, I figure they must have some merit to have claimed such large followings.

It's also possible that they simply appealed to something in a clever way without actually being good writing. Eragon does not have a very complex plot and is easy to read (I think the sequels suffer from Paolini trying to make them more complicated and 'significant'). Twilight is about a supposed dream-guy who is super-sexy (though he's a stalker... ). Even Robert Pattinson, the actor who plays Edward, has bashed the book for being one long fantasy about the 'amazing' Edward.

[Zackira]

The thing about Eragon is that the story is not that bad, and it could have been a great movie, but it was made a movie too fast. No one had ever read the book when the movie came out, so when the movie sucked, there were no fans to protest! Therefore it all was forgotten, and no one cared until afterwards, but then its too late.

[Eldorion]

No one had ever read the book when the movie came out, so when the movie sucked, there were no fans to protest!

The book was published by Knopf and subsequently gained a lot of attention in 2003 about 2-2.5 years before the movie came out. Plenty of people had already read the book and I remember quite a bit of criticism of the movie by fans of the book from that time.

Therefore it all was forgotten, and no one cared until afterwards, but then its too late.

Well if by "it" you mean the movie, then I agree, but I think that's because the movie was horrible. The book was readable and at least somewhat enjoyable, the movie made me want to scratch out my eyes, and based on it's score at Rotten Tomatoes I don't think I'm the only one. The book series is continuing however, though the novelty of "OMG Christopher Paolini is 15!" has worn off now that he's in his 20s.