Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

[Court_vision]

Saw this movie today as my Mrs wanted to see it...

This movie IS STAR WARS in a sword and sorcery dinner jacket.

I mean, it's the EXACT same plot.

How can the author not be sued? It's the most obvious plagarism I've ever seen.

[dieselboy]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

Never read the book or seen the movie...but I did a quick Wikipedia search and...

"Common Sense Media, a family-friendly review site, was particularly scathing, stating that, "It's not long, however, before they begin to notice the long-winded descriptions, the clich&#233;s and hackneyed dialogue, and the derivative nature of the plot—straight out of Star Wars by way of The Lord of the Rings, with bits of other great fantasies thrown in here and there. That this is a great achievement for one so young is undeniable, and many children will love it. It certainly ranks right up there with other derivative, overblown fantasies written by adults, such as Terry Brooks's Sword of Shannara series."<sup id="_ref-csm_0" class="reference">[5]</sup> This criticism from USAToday mirrors Common Sense Media's accusation of derivative storytelling: "The novel also owes a debt to Luke Skywalker as the teen hero trains to be a Dragon Rider while avenging his uncle's murder,"<sup id="_ref-usatoday_0" class="reference">[6]</sup> as well as the fact that the book "echoes Tolkien in its pseudo-Celtic language and imagined universe of dwarfs and elves.""

[Court_vision]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

The hero kid is raised by his Uncle...

A mysterious thing comes to him...sent by a distressed Princess.

As he comes to realise what it is...he returns to his house to find the guys who also want this 'thing' have killed his family.

A mysterious older guy takes him away and tells him he's the chosen one...

The mysterious older guy later turns out to be a 'Dragon Rider'...and helps the kid learn the powers of the Dragon Riders...

The kid gets stronger and learns only he can save the world from the evil empire / kingdom...

He gets a message and goes to save the Princess...

And on and on...

It's Star Wars in different clothing.

Me, you...anyone!...could have written it. I can't believe it somehow hasn't been sued to hell and back for plagarism.

I'm not slamming it...it was semi entertaining. It's just that the plagarism is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO obvious.

If there were no plagarism laws...we'd all be rich

One review:

I liked Eragon’s story so much more when it was called Star Wars. It’s not a horrible movie (at least, not horrible in the Deck The Halls sense), but while watching it, you hear echoes of George Lucas, Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi throughout the film instead of focusing on the story. Heck, I was waiting for a Wookie to pop up.

Another:

Christopher Paolini, the author of “Eragon” was, of course, but a teen when he began writing the book, so it’s not surprising how derivative the story is. It’s essentially a repeat of the first episode of “Star Wars” dropped into a “Lord of the Rings” context. The titular hero is, like Luke Skywalker, a farmboy adopted by his uncle Garrow (Alun Armstrong)–though in this case his mother is supposedly still alive somewhere. The family, which also includes Eragon’s cousin Roran (Chris Egan), lives under the tyrannical rule of the evil King Galbatorix (John Malkovich), whose chief henchman is a mystical sorcerer named Durza (Robert Carlyle). (It’s not difficult to see the templates of Emperor and Darth Vader in this duo.) Galbatorix, we learn, came to power by betraying his fellow dragon riders, who were apparently the Jedi of their land, each pledged to battle evil-doers aboard his personal flying dragon.

[EZ Snappin]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

You guys do know Star Wars is just a rip of a couple of prior things - the mythological hero's quest (broken down nicely in Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces") and the Kurosawa movie "The Hidden Fortress"?

Originality in coming of age heroic adventure ended some time about 3000 years ago.

Eragon is pretty shameless in it's genericness, however, from setting to character to plot. Condensing the story to movie length just heightens that feeling of deja vu as it goes from point A to B to C without any depth or identification with the characters.

[BGarrett7]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

You guys do know Star Wars is just a rip of a couple of prior things - the mythological hero's quest (broken down nicely in Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces") and the Kurosawa movie "The Hidden Fortress"?

Exactly. It's really not fair to the stuff that brought about Star Wars to say that Eragon is ripping off something that was, in essence, ripped off itself.

[Court_vision]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

Exactly. It's really not fair to the stuff that brought about Star Wars to say that Eragon is ripping off something that was, in essence, ripped off itself.

Yeah, but it's 2006...nearly 2007...and we live in an era of court cases wherever $ are involved...

That's kind of my point...I mean, the plot is so obviously plagarism.

In this day and age, where song writers sue each other over one shared line...

[BGarrett7]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

Then blame the makers of the movie. Not once in all I heard about the novel -- including reading a lot of it, it's actually sitting right next to me on the desk as I type -- prior to the release of the movie did I ever hear any type of reference to it being a Star Wars clone.

[Court_vision]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

Maybe it's the same studio or the directors are friends...I don't know. They may have given them permission I guess.

It's more of a kids movie to be honest. My wife likes those types of films.

It's worth seeing if you're over 20...or over 30 in my case...just for Robert Carlye. Great actor.

[Misfit]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

They can't be sued for using a similar plot as Star Wars, only if they started throwing around the terms Jedi and The Force could they get sued. A lot of films, books, games borrow plots from other sources, they're just not always as obvious as Eragon.

[triplej96]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

Kurosawa movie "The Hidden Fortress" came out long before star wars but Mr. Lucas copied off Hidden Fortress no doubt about it! It happens.

[CMH]

Re: Eragon - how did they not get sued?!

Yea, the background story isn't illegal to copy. It's a very plausible background to a hero story. Like others said, it was already copied once by Star Wars. I've read that the game, Jade Empire, was a rip on old Chinese stories that Star Wars ripped.

Creativity is severely lacking in entertainment. That's something we all know.