I can’t say I was enthralled by the book — I read about half of it, got confused by the comings and goings, and went on to something else. Still, the part I did read was, I think, somewhat better than the film.

In the kingdom of Alagaesia the dragonriders and their dragons, who once kept the place happy and prosperous, have been destroyed by civil war; the only one left is the evil king Galbatorix (John Malkovich) who keeps the land in thrall. A farm boy named Eragon (Edward Speleers), while out hunting, comes across a dragon’s egg, hatches it out, and finds himself the rider of an intelligent, telepathic female dragon named Saphira (voice of Rachel Weisz), under the tutorship of the village fool Brom (Jeremy Irons), himself once a dragon rider. These three set out to find the resistance, detouring en route to rescue Arya (Sienna Guillory), princess of a neighboring country held prisoner by the evil mage Durza (Robert Carlyle) whose main job is to track down Eragon and Saphira and destroy them. The movie climaxes with a major battle between Galbatorix’s army and the resistance, overshadowed by an aerial battle between Durza and Eragon.

The book was one of those massive tomes so common in the science fiction-fantasy world these days, and it comes as no surprise that a lot was cut out. To me, much of it was no loss; but some bits and pieces were left, like flotssam and jetsam, that didn’t seem to have much use in the movie, for instance the character of Murtagh (Garrett Hedlund) who shows up occasionally in the last half and does very little of note.

By and large, the plot was terribly shorted in favor of the special effects, which were fairly good; you too will believe that a dragon can fly, though in some ways the effects do not improve upon those in Dragonslayer twenty-five years ago. I would say “rent it when it comes out on DVD,” but for those effects you may want to have the wide-screen experience … once.

I am sorry to read that the movie did not show so well.

Don: Here is one where I have to disagree – I rather enjoyed the book, but I did give a little slack to Christopher Paolini, who at 16, did a respectable job. Sure he lacked experiences from which to draw, but I think that his books have promise, and I believe that he will become a solid writer.

I am happy to say: in all the years, this is the first time that I have completely disagreed with Don… That is an impressive track record against one so complete self-assured to the point of total arrogance (me).

— Randy