Star Web

Yesterday my dearie and me went to Eng Wah Suntec to get presents and watch movies. In the end I managed to get all that I wanted to get. Hope everyone got something they will like and use.

We watched 2 movies Charlotte's Web and Eragon.

Eragon




Going into this movie I already kinda knew what to expect. I had never read the books that this story is from so I am not sure how it differs from the original storyline. But watching Eragon I had this strange sense of deja vu. It was like as though I had seen this movie before...
" A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far away..."
Me, being an ardent Star Wars junkie, could almost immediately see how much of Star Wars: The New Hope was in this movie. Some say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But not in this case. I mean it is alright to steal a few ideas or scenes. But to have almost the entire story arc be exactly the same only instead of in space or the desert, it is in some medieval era. I know Star Wars itself was inspired by westerns and the Kurosawa films. But somehow Star Wars managed to pull all these disparate pieces into a tangible and lovable tale. There is of course the parallels between Eragon and the Lord of the Rings trilogy but I will not go there.

plot:
It is a time of an evil empire. The leader of the empire knows the same mystical power as the group of knights he hunted down and destroyed in order to create the empire. (The emperor in Eragon is more like Darth Vader than the Emperor in Star Wars, as both were part of the knights before falling to evil).

Both open with a princess racing home with something stolen from the evil empire that could be hope to the rebellion. The empire's servents attack and the princess is captured, but not before the princess can get the object to safety, sending it to an old man who is the last (or one of the last) of a group of mystical knights with magic powers.

The object ends up in the hands of a farm boy of unknown heritage raised by his uncle by mistake.

The farm boy leaves home after the empire's servents kill his uncle.

The person the object was ment for gives the farm boy a special sword and teaches him a mystical power before he is killed by the servents of the empire.

Boy practices magic by lifting rocks (admittedly this rips off Empire Strikes Back rather than the original Star Wars).

Boy meets older gruff, older person that seems to care about himself more than the conflict between the empire and rebellion.

Boy and gruff person rescue princess who is being tortured to reveal location of the rebels hidden base.

Princess leads them to the hidden base, arriving slightly before the empire does.

Empire attacks the hidden base. A large battle commences in which the farm boy saves the day and becomes a hero by hitting the enemy's weak spot while the main villain is distracted by the farm boy's ally swooping in from above.

The thing is that with the cast it has, Eragon could have been so much more than what it was. I mean like Jeremy Irons is in it. John Malkovich is in it. Robert Carlyle is in it. Even Rachel Weisz is in it as the voice of Saphira. In a nutshell, Eragon is a movie without ambition. With its cast,story and budget it could have been so much more than what it was.

Rating 2 out of 5 dragon eggs

Charlotte's Web



I love animals.That much is true. So that put Charlotte and her web in my must-see list for 2006. Most of us have probably seen an adaptation or read the book before. But somehow this film really rises above what was already an extraordinary tale and made it into an instant classic. Although the main cast comprises mainly of a menagerie of farm animals, the audience is able to relate to them beyond a superficial level. The pig,Wilbur,although cute does grow up and lose his piglety-ness, but loses none of his charm in the process.The supporting cast is brilliant too. Who woulda thunk farm animals could be so witty and so...umm...like us?
My only grouse is that Dakota Fanning is out of her element here. She somehow still seems creepy here despite this being a PG Rated feel-good film. She has those eyes that say,"help me!!" She is no doubt one of the better child actresses of her generation but still I just do not feel she quite fits in here. On the other hand I cannot think of any other actresses off hand who could have done better in her role.
Tales of tragedy involving animals always get to me. I had to hold back tears at the Lion King and bambi amngst others. This one was no different. *spoiler..well sort of* The final scenes where Charlotte and Wilbur finally part really pulled my heart strings. Even that scene when Wilbur returned to the barn was heart wrenching. *sob sob*
will be getting the DVD when it comes out here.
Rating: 4 and 1/2 buckets of slop out of 5

There is also Night at the Museum and The Nativity we wanna watch. But looks like the latter is already off most screens.May have to get the DVD or vcd. Other movies I wanna watch are Borat - Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan
and ... Apocalypto

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