The kids and I have enjoyed the book Eragon (and Eldest, the second book in the trilogy) as well as the books on tape for some time now. Yes, they're a bit derivative and the writing is pretentious, but they're good reads.

So, we were very excited when we saw that the movie version of Eragon was coming.

We shouldn't have been. I thought it was terrible. Even the kids thought it was bad. Andrew (9) said optimistically, "Well, it looked nice and it was so different from the book it was like watching a whole new story." Michelle just convulsed with laughter at how bad the movie was.

It did look nice. I also didn't mind the casting (although I'm not sure John Malkovich really fit my idea of Galbatorix). But the story raced along with no plot or character development. I had a hard time understanding why Eragon was doing what he was doing, and I've read the books. I also thought the dialog was just too cheesy. Maybe I just hate all movie adaptations. (Not true: I really liked the Lord of the Rings series, but I haven't read the books in 25+ years).

The only possible blessing is that they seem to have cut off so many parts of the story line that a movie version of Eldest seems unlikely. They didn't tee up any of the big elements that make up the second book. Thank goodness.