Katie, which one is older? Maybe you just have the names backwards.

No, I have the names right. Susan's older, Lucy's younger.

Goblet of Fire Teaser

I love the beginning, with the shots of the kids in each of the movies. I don't love that both Ron and Harry have scraggly hair in this one. I like the Dragon, but gotta wonder why it looks like they extended that battle, possibly the most straightforward of Harry's quests: the book's already gonna be massacred to fit it into a 150 minute (accerding to IMDB, but possibly not relaible) film; they really shouldn't be adding stuff.

I really wish they had kept the same director as Prisoner, because now I can't have faith that this one will measure up. Shame, really.

I liked the Narnia teaser, and didn't find that Lucy was jarringly off my mental image of her. Also, I love the casting for the White Witch.

Zenkitty, here's the history summary I have for the Kindgom of Heaven: Baldwin ascended to the throne at 13 (even though his illness was known). He was an excellent leader, dealing Saladin his worst military defeat at the battle of Montgisard. Sybilla married a decent man, William Longsword, Marquis of Montferrat (an admirable choice) and bore him a son, also named Baldwin (or Baudouinet or "Little Baldwin"). William died tragically of a fever that same year. Guy de Lusignan was French, strikingly handsome and adept with the ladies. He consoled Sybilla and married her--over the objections of all the magnates of the kingdom. Baldwin, realizing Guy's incompetance as a leader was determined that Guy not become king. Since Baldwin's health was fading fast, he named Baudouinet his successor. Baldwin died in 1185 (two years before the Battle of the Horns of Hattin). The child king, Baldwin V was placed under the regency of Count Raymond of Tripoli. Guy, angered over the slight, rebelled against the regency. Sadly, the child died in 1186 and Guy then seized the throne for himself. So technically, Sybilla should have felt guilty--her choice of a husband made disasterous decisions leading to the defeat at Hattin. I'm going to have to take freakin' notes at the film to do some comparison to history.

I think what she felt guilty about in the film was that when Baldwin died she chose Guy as her king, instead of having him be regent. That gave hom the power over the army and the chance to wage war.

Do we know who is doing the voice of Aslan?

I really wish they had kept the same director as Prisoner,

My understanding is that Andrew Cuaron was so exhausted from making a big budget studio SFX picture that he didn't want to do it again, at least not right away.

As far as the competence of the new director goes, Mike Newell is an accomplished director with a penchant for fantasy and children's tales, as well as a good feel for more adult stories. I'd say there's a better than even chance of the movie being good.

Cashmere, thanks for the history lesson! I'm always fascinated by history. It seems that (you may want to wait until you've seen the movie yourself to read the whitefont) for the movie they compressed two kings into one, ditched the kid, and took some poetic license. Sybilla's guilt in real life makes sense, because she chose her husband unwisely, but in the movie, it makes less sense, I think. You'll have to tell me if you think she really had any choices, the way the movie was written; I don't think she did.

Robin, I also think she was supposedly feeling guilty over crowning Guy, but I don't see what choice she had, since Bailion refused her. I'm possibly wrong, but I think a regent is only named if the person taking the throne is non-competent (meaning a child). In the movie, no child, so Guy became was king. It's possible that Sybilla could have ruled herself as Queen and made Guy a Prince, like Elizabeth and Albert, but she didn't, so there must have been some reason she didn't. She surely could have done a better job! Also, she says to Guy, "If I have your army, you have your wife," which made me think she was planning some sort of military action (which would've been cool), but she did nothing with the army, so I don't even know what that line was supposed to mean.

I wish they'd given us the real history - it would have made both Guy's treachery and Sybilla's guilt more obvious. Then Bailion could have been Tripoli. (Is that his correct name?? I couldn't understand what they were saying half the time.)

Anyway. It was a good movie, and I enjoyed it, despite my teeth-gnashing over "morality". (And over how a peasant(-raised) blacksmith could have developed such skill at combat and battle strategy so quickly, before he ever went into a battle. But never mind.)

The simple fact that it will not be Christopher Columbus directing it gives me hope.