I'm afraid that many fans of Christopher Paolini’s bestselling children's novel Eragon may be as disappointed as I am with the less than inspiring film adaptation of this epic fantasy adventure.

As the movie opens in the far away realm of Alagaesia, 15-year-old Eragon (Edward Speleers) discovers a sapphire on a hunting excursion. What Eragon mistakes for a gem is actually a dragon egg. He watches in amazement as a miniature dragon suddenly emerges from it. To protect the creature, Eragon knows he will have to keep its existence hidden from everyone, including his guardian, Uncle Garrow (Alun Armstrong).

Eragon recalls dragons once protected and defended Alagaesia. Men known as Dragon Riders rode them into battle. The Dragon Riders appeared to be invincible until Galbatorix (John Malkovich) saw his dragon killed during battle. Galbatorix was unable to obtain a replacement dragon from their council, so he and a group of 12 traitors known as the Forsworn turned against their fellow Dragon Riders. 

Galbatorix became king of Alagaesia and managed to wipe out the Dragon Riders and to slay every dragon save for one. He knows that Eragon has the egg because Arya (Sienna Guillory), who is guardian over the precious egg, dropped it in the woods while being chased by Galbatorix’s henchman. Arya is willing to sacrifice her life to ensure that the egg hatches and dragons will continue to exist.

Galbatorix has sent two of his men known as Ra’zac to kill Eragon, but Eragon and the dragon, now known as Saphira, (voice of Rachel Weisz) managed to evade them with the help of town storyteller Brom (Jeremy Irons) who is an expert on the Dragon Riders. With Galbatorix’s knowledge and Saphira’s support, Eragon must now exercise revenge on Galbatorix and the Ra’zac who will not rest until both Eragon and Saphira are eliminated.

Speleers, who makes his debut as Eragon, was handpicked from 180,000 candidates to play the part. The actor spent most of his time working in front of a green screen with the computer-generated Saphira added in later. Unfortunately, the young actor fails to put proper emphasis on his dialogue or to display any emotion in scenes such as the one depicting his uncle’s death. And I felt no connection between Speleers and Saphira. Also, I don’t think the CGI Saphira creation looks realistic enough to make audiences suspend disbelief. This is especially true of sequences where Saphira flies with Eragon on her back and when we see her scales or watch her breathe fire for the first time. It calls for an extreme stretch of credibility to accept the scenes where Saphira looks Eragon directly in the eye to read his thoughts or to speak with him telepathically.

However, Irons delivers a standout performance here in the role of a broken individual with a newfound sense of purpose after becoming mentor and father-figure to Eragon.

Sadly, director Stefan Fangmeier’s directorial debut results in a painfully slow, sloppy, and uninspired take on Paolini’s novel. Diehard fans of the author’s Inheritance Trilogy will be left hoping other films based on this series avoid a similar fate. 

(Released by Twentieth Century Fox and rated “PG” for battle sequences and frightening moments.)