I totally agree that the movie was almost a completely different story, much to my disappointment. I guess I had high hopes, considering how much I enjoyed the book, but when have they ever had a really good book-to-movie conversion? Anywho, you miss a ton 'o character development in the movie, quite disappointing.
I enjoyed both books quite well, though I don't philosophize too much about authors sticking to cliched characters; i.e., elves, dwarves, dragons, etc., as I expect to find these types of characters in the fantasy books I read placed in that type of setting. I actually find it quite annoying when an author attempts to redevelop a prototype from exisitng genres and call them something else.
I guess the final thing to remember about this trilogy is that Paolini was only 17 when he started it, so you have to take into mind his mindset and target audience (not necessarily us adults).