Eragon is the first part of what Christopher Paolini has planned as his Inheritance Trilogy. The second book, Eldest, has already been published and the final installment is yet to come. In his first book, Paolini introduces us to a farm boy of fifteen named Eragon (played by newcomer Edward Speleers). Eragons mother left when he was young and he now lives with a kindly uncle and the uncles son. While hunting illegally on the property of evil King Galbatorix (John Malkovich), Eragon comes across a large, shiny blue stone. He takes it, hoping he can trade it for food or other necessities. But the butcher will have nothing to do with an item taken from the kings land so Eragon brings the stone home. But the object is not a precious stone but rather a dragon egg.

Edward Speleers and Jeremy Irons in Eragon.

The egg hatches and Eragon finds himself with a pet dragon. The dragon is named Saphira (voiced by Rachel Weisz) and she quickly grows from a cute pet to an imposing creature. Saphira has also chosen Eragon as her rider, and this creates a bond that apparently cannot be broken and that comes with a preordained destiny that Eragon is not sure hes ready for. Eragon meets up with Brom (Jeremy Irons), a mysterious man who seems to know quite a lot about dragon lore. He explains that dragons and their riders did exist, and they had helped keep order in the kingdom. But one of the ridersthe man who would become King Galbatorixbetrayed the others and had the dragons exterminated. Legend, however, has it that a dragon and a rider will rise again to challenge the evil king and reclaim the kingdom for the people. And apparently Eragon is that rider of legend, and destiny has chosen him as the one to lead a rebellion.

The Eragon novel has been extremely popular with young readers. Not quite up there with Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings but definitely with a strong following. Part of the attraction is that Paolini was the age of both his character and many of his readers when he began writing his story. Eragon definitely has elements that would appeal to young boys: swordplay, dragons, a fantasy setting, humor, big battles and just a hint of romance but with the girl being a fighter rather than a damsel in distress. My thirteen year-old-son is a fan of the novel and came with me to the screening. The film left him with his first the book was better disappointment.

Since I never read the book, I had a more favorable response but I do have to confess to having a weakness for movies with dragons and mythological beasts. Director Stefen Fangmeier (who comes from a visual effects background) doesnt create his fantasy world with the same meticulous detail that Peter Jackson invested in the Lord of the Ring Trilogy. As a result, Eragon creates a less vivid and compelling fantasy world.

Tha dragon Saphira in Eragon.

Based on my sons enthusiastic book report, I would have to conclude that the film trims back the novel to its bare essentials, reducing most of the characters to fleeting supporting roles and scaling back the battle scenes. There's little time for Brom to mentor Eragon, and Eragon's learning of magic is definitely pushed aside. Fangmeier and screenwriter Peter Buchman try to keep the film moving at a good pace but they neglect to pause for detail or character development. Yet despite some shortcomings, Eragon is an appealing film with a well-rendered CG dragon that looks convincingly like the one pictured on the cover of the novel. The flying sequences are definitely fun, delivering the same kind of thrill as the pod racing in The Phantom Menace. Rachel Weisz as the voice of Saphira does not endow her dragon with quite as much personality as Sean Connery was able to do with his dragon in Dragonheart. But Saphira is credibly rendered and exhibits enough personality and expression to charm viewers.

The human characters also prove appealing. As Brom, Irons makes a grand old dragon rider, investing him with just the right mix of irony, mentorship and sadness. The young Speleers is earnest and spirited as Eragon. He exhibits some of the same star potential as the young Heath Ledger did in the Fox show Roar. Robert Carlyle makes a fittingly despicable villain but John Malkovich is not very impressive as the evil king who once was a dragon rider.

Visually the film has a clean, well-polished look even when the locales are meant to be dark and dank. This reveals the difference between a well-mounted studio film and a film made by someone whos passionate about the material fueled by a vision for bringing it to the screen. The latter is what Jackson achieved with Lord of the Rings in which he created a vivid fantasy world that truly felt lived in. Eragon has a pretty and glossy feel to its fantasy world that places it more in line with the recent Chronicles of Narnia. The violence here is never harsh and the danger level never too severe.

Eragon (rated PG) is a pleasing if not inspired adaptation of Christopher Paolinis novel. I suspect that as with my son, most fans of the book will feel shortchanged. Fox plans to bring the other two books to the screen as well and maybe the next installment will take the time to develop the characters more and to detail their world with a little more care.

Companion viewing: The Lord of the Ring Trilogy, Dragonheart, Jason and the Argonauts

Dakota Fanning plays Fern in Charlotte's Web.

Charlottes Web was previously made as an animated film in 1973 with Debbie Reynolds lending her voice to the famous arachnid with a penchant for writing words in her web. That film also boasted the perfect voice casting of Henry Gibson as Wilbur the pig and Paul Lynde as Templeton the rat. This year the story has been brought to the screen by Gary Winick as a live action film enhanced by some computer generated effects.

E.B. Whites story centers on a young girl named Fern (Dakota Fanning) who rescues a runt pig from death. She raises the pig that she names Wilbur (voiced by Dominic Scott Kay). But once he starts to grow, she has to move him to her uncles farm. At the farm, Wilbur meets a barnyard of animals that initially take little interest in the friendly pig. But Wilbur slowly wins them over and eventually enlists their aid in trying to save him from the smokehouse. A spring pig, hes told, never gets to see winter snow. But spider Charlotte (voiced by Julia Roberts) has an idea: she needs to make the humans realize that Wilbur is such a special pig that they wont want to turn him into bacon for breakfast. She decides to highlight his uniqueness with words she writes in her web. But making the humans realize just how special their porker is turns out to be more difficult than any of the creatures anticipated.

Templeton the rat and Wilbur in Charlotte's Web.

This new Charlottes Web is a bland film adaptation of E.B. Whites charming tale. Theres nothing offensively bad but the film just feels homogenized so that nothing will offend anyone. Winick, who directed the sharply observed comedy Tadpole and the Jennifer Garner chick flick 13 Going on 30, takes a workman like approach top Charlottes Web. He and screenwriters Susannah Grant (In her Shoes, Erin Brockovich, Ever After) and Karey Kirkpatrick (who wrote the animated Over the Hedge) bring the novel to the screen with a determined but not very inspired faithfulness.

As Fern, Dakota Fanning turns in one of her better or should I say less grating performances. In films such as War of the Worlds or I am Sam, Fanning tried so hard to deliver the emotions demanded by the script and to pull on heartstrings that she ended up being annoyingly calculated. In Charlottes Web she delivers a more natural performance and proves likable. As the barnyard animals, Dominic Scott Kay is best as Wilbur while Julia Roberts (voicing a cutely animated spider) brings little life to the CGI creature. She sounds like shes reading her lines from the book. Maybe someone like Glenn Close could have brought more emotion or more warmth to the arachnid role. Robert Redford proves to be totally wasted as the horse whereas John Cleese scores some laughs as the stuffy sheep, Steve Buscemi does well as Templeton, and Thomas Hayden Church hams it up as a scared crow. But all in all , the talking animals fail to generate much personality because they are not visually rendered with much personality. Sam Shepherd is wasted as the narrator.

Charlottes Web (rated G) is definitely for a younger crowd.

Companion viewing: Babe, Charlottes Web (animated), Porco Rosso, Tadpole