Raazac from eragon the movie
Bottom line: This is a first-rate production of a beloved classic. The film is very sad at the end-for grown-ups who enjoy a good cry, that's fine children will respond to Charlotte's death in different ways. For the first time I understood why it was a good thing that Fern rode the Ferris Wheel with a boy, and how Wilbur and Charlotte had helped bring that about. Small changes have been made to the story, but they all worked for me. The setting of the farms is fantastic (though I was sorry it was filmed in Australia, not Maine), and the animals talk so flawlessly that it's hard to remember there was a time when talking animals in films looked hokey.
#Raazac from eragon the movie movie
But the best thing about the movie is that it uses White's prose generously in voice over, and we're reminded that the story really is about friendship, and how lives, barns, towns, and well, the world, can be changed by the arrival of a pig-or a person-who sees beauty and friendship where none was seen before. First of all, Dakota Fanning as Fern is as charming and natural as always, and the voices of both Wilbur and Charlotte are perfectly cast. This version of " Charlotte's Web" comes much closer than any retelling so far. White's book that it's hard to put the plot on screen and see the magic.
There's something just so delightful and fresh about the prose in E.B. I'd count on the 9-16 word of mouth on this one. Also, it bothered me that the evil armies who are killed are the poor conscripted boys from the beginning of the film. The battles are violent, the villains are scary (face of maggots is especially unappealing), but I think the girls were okay with them because they are very fairy-tale battles.Īs an adult, the film wasn't necessarily one of my favorites, especially since we're living in a time where we know that war injures the souls of everyone involved. Not to mention, he gets to ride a really cool dragon.Ī warning: The film is not for younger viewers. What's more, Eragon (the boy), suffers that plague of inexperienced youth-he's "one part courage, three parts fool," but even though he consistently makes mistakes, he does the best he can, and is still able to triumph. But then he's given a dragon egg, and it turns out he does have power, he can take action, and he can actually change dilemmas hoisted on him by corrupt adults. The young viewers of the film saw it as the story of a youngster powerless to change the hard times and evil world into which he'd been born. "Yeah, they did stuff," another agreed.Īnd I think that's where we adult reviewers missed the boat. "Yes, but it wasn't just a sweet, oh-I-can-read-your-thoughts story," added another.
"We thought it was going to just be some movie about some boy and his dragon." "But it was a movie about a boy and his dragon," said I. "It was so much better than we expected!" cried one. Their vocabulary of superlatives was tapped out. When I asked what they thought of the film, they gushed, and it was serious gushing. Not only that, on the way out of the Eragon theater, I ran into a girls' birthday party, featuring several middle school girls I knew. Young ladylike Jordan cheerfully gave "Charlotte's Web" a 4.5-and "Eragon" a perfect 5. Was it that these kids had read the book? Been hooked by a good set of trailers and would be disappointed at the film? But earlier, when I was recruiting watchers for "Charlotte," the sweetest, most ladylike friend of my 9-year-old daughter said she would be pleased to see "Charlotte"-if I'd take her to Eragon first. My 11-year-old son and his friends made it clear they would not be caught dead watching "Charlotte's Web," but they were in the van for Eragon faster than maggots can wriggle on a Razac's face. It was especially surprising because Charlotte garnered nearly universal raves, while "Eragon's" reviews were fairly dismal. But each goes about telling the tale, especially to children and young adults, in a very different way.įor me, the big story of last weekend wasn't that Will Smith topped the box office in a non-action film, but that "Eragon" stomped "Charlotte's Web," one doing $10 million better than expected, the other doing $10 million worse.
Here are three movies that each qualified for me as holiday surprises-in some way, each wasn't what I expected it to be.