Give Eragon a few years: By then, it might be delightfully bad.

| Original Score: C- | Jan 3, 2007

John Malkovich finds his loopy, nostril-flaring form as the wicked tyrant and Jeremy Irons, playing the boy's wise mentor, is visibly thinking about his fee.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 30, 2006

A painful reminder of what fantasy cinema was like before the Lord of the Rings trilogy re-wrote the rules.

| Dec 30, 2006

The title of Hollywood's latest fantasy epic is simply the word 'dragon' with one letter changed, and unfortunately, that's about the level of creativity you can expect from Eragon.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 30, 2006

It's a bonanza for the tinted contact lens industry.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 30, 2006

This tale of dragons and derring-do risks sending kids and grownups alike drifting away to the Land Of Nod.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 30, 2006

If one happens to be a boy between the ages of 10 and 15 or so, all of this will be quite exciting and engaging. If one is much older -- say, 16 -- and has seen any epic adventure produced in the last two decades, Eragon will be trying.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 30, 2006

Technically competent, but essentially a fantasy movie that mistakes industrial light for magic.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 30, 2006

The Hollywood studio is hoping and praying for lots of things, none of which matter a lick if the movie lays a giant dragon-sized egg, making all their aspirations nothing more than a bunch of hot air dissipating in the cold winter breeze.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 22, 2006

With no momentum and no real characters to care about, [Eragon] lumbers its way toward a grand, sequel-setting finale.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Dec 17, 2006

The strength comes from the 15-year-old author's conviction and enthusiasm for the story but the weakeness comes from its key elements being renamed rather then re-imagined.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Dec 15, 2006

...So heavily derivative of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings it should be ritually torched by followers of Yoda and Frodo.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 15, 2006

Eragon may not be a big Oscar contender, but in a movie season filled with blood diamonds, fascist soldiers and Idi Amin, it provides a much-needed afternoon of PG-rated family-friendly adventure.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 15, 2006

First-time director Stefen Fangmeier delivers, giving young adults a teen hero astride a flying dragon (voice of Rachel Weisz) and a comely girl warrior, Arya (Sienna Guillory), who, like Luke and Leia, join forces and wits to bring down the evil empire.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 15, 2006

The film's few moments of hilarity are no less welcome for being completely unintended...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 15, 2006

The script, which reaches for importance by repeating ideas, drags down the actors, who try to do the same thing by throwing periods into the middle of a sentence: "Take care of Saphira. Without her. You'll find that life is hardly worth living."

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 15, 2006

Paolini was 15 when he began writing Eragon, and the book's epic imagination reflects its creator's precocious youth. What a shame a bunch of grownups had to step in and muck it all up.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 15, 2006

...Takes an already derivative plot and guts it like so many Urgals.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 15, 2006

In truth, astute viewers may note a more-than-passing resemblance to Star Wars...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 15, 2006

...Lord of the Potter better captures the blended spirit of the occasion.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 15, 2006