By Steve Biodrowski

This fantasy-adventure flick is not nearly as bad as it could have been, but it is marred by a juvenile tone that prevents it from attaining the LORD OF THE RINGS stature toward which is aspires.

In the time-honored tradition, Eragon (Edward Speleers) is a young lad plucked from obscurity to become the hero who will overthrow the evil regime, in the person of King Galbatorix)(John Malkovich). Of course, there is little about Eragon to suggest he is capable of achieving this, but he does have one advantage: a recently hatched dragon named Saphira has chosen him to be her "Dragon-Rider" (sort of the film's equivalent of being a Jedi Knight). The untried youth is abetted by former dragon-rider Brom (Jeremy Irons) who takes him on a long journey to team up with some other freedom fighters. Along the way, they are pursued by an evil sorcerer named Durza (Robert Carlyle), while leading lady Arya (Sienna Guillory) mostly lies around waiting to be rescued.

Speleers is a tad too pretty, in a bland sort of way, to take seriously as a hero, but he does acquit himself well vocally. Guillory has little to do - her role barely qualifies as window dressing. Malkovich and Carlyle handle the villainy well enough, although the roles hardly demand anything special from them; in particular, Malkovich's few scenes are limited to a single setting, suggesting he was not on the production long. Easily the standout performance comes from Irons, who actually breathes a little gusto into his wise old mentor role.

But of course, in a film like this, what we really care about is the dragon. Saphira cuts a somewhat fine figure, but she's not as awesome as the Vermithrax from DRAGONSLAYER, nor does she have the winning personality of Draco in DRAGONHEART. In general, domesticated dragons feel somewhat neutered, lacking the fearsomeness that renders them indelible in the imagination; this is aggravated in Saphira by the fact that her design incorporates birdlike characteristics, like feathery wings, instead of sticking to the scaly, reptilian look. Although Rachel Weisz is a strong actress, her delivery cannot compensate for the treacly quality of the dragon's telepathic communications with Eragon; this concept may have worked fine on the page, but it feels awkward on screen, and much of the dialogue between rider and dragon is unnecessary.

The special effects are not bad. In fact, the highlight of the film is a spectacular aerial duel between Eragon and Saphira, on one hand, and the sorcerer Durza, on the other hand, riding some kind of sulfurous winged demon, whose amorphous shape vaguely suggests a bat.

If that's all it takes to please you, ERAGON is a pleasant enough ride, especially for younger viewers. But as the credits role you probably will not find yourself eagerly awaiting more - even though the sequel-promising final shot (the evil king unveils his own dragon, ready for battle) is pretty cool. The story of ERAGON is just too familiar and a bit too flimsy to generate the sort of epic sweep that requires a trilogy to complete it.

More ERAGON photos here.