The really annoying thing about Eragon is that about 90% of the characters, places, organizations, events, and anything else have a Star Wars equivalent. Eragon is clearly Luke. The Empire is, well, the Empire. Garrow represents Luke's uncle and aunt. Brom is Obi-Wan (he even dies). The Varden is the Rebel Alliance. Oromis is Yoda. The raz'zac are the stormtroopers that killed Luke's uncle and nephew. That's just the characters. If I moved onto the plot then I could type all day. Eragon is bordering on plagerism.
Eragon deserves no worse a rap than the countless other books and movies that have followed this example, even those pre-dating Star Wars. I read the book, liked it alright, despite glaring similarities with other authors. Imitation is the ultimate form of flattery, right? The movie was fun. Not good. It was fun. Maybe I wasn't sitting there trying my damndest to pick it apart at the seams, but eh. I'd seen worse.