Well, this is a major downer. Sure, there's some good information here, but most of it is as yuck as possible.

I noticed some other NarniaWebbers quoting the Comingsoon.net report, but I didn't see a link (I might have missed it!) so I thought I'd post it. They do have a little more information then the Examiner.

I agree with Pattertwig's Pal that Edmund showing his tongue to his uncle is quite immature.

At the second island, Lucy is kidnapped by "invisible giants" while everyone else is sleeping and they take her to an "invisible house" for her to find the Book of Incantations to turn things visible...
We then cut to the beach where the others wake up and immediately notice Lucy's absence so they go off looking for her.

From how this sounds, there is an actual scene of Lucy being kidnapped, so I don't think this was just an assumption by the crew. Though I'm pretty sure the "Giants" thing is a guess.
But:

Lucy, who is walking through the strange house adorned with all sorts of books and paintings, and she comes to a large book on a pedestal but it seems to be locked. [Lucy says various spells then] Apted told us that after reuniting with the crew, they go to Magician's Island where they meet the Magician Coriakin...

So obviously this report isn't completely reliable!

At the top of the stand on which the book rests and just above it is an angel ornament that comes alive and blows wind ahead of it, clueing Lucy to the fact that she has to blow on the front of the book, which she does.

Bizarre. An angel? I don't think Narnia even has angels.

Other than that, I pretty much agree with what's already been said as to the awfulness of it all.

I had no time to write anything at my computer earlier and I really should get to bed, but I just had to comment on a few things that stuck out about this report:

Peter 2.0:
Ugh.

Caspian introducing Ed and Lu as the High King and Queen:
This struck me at first, since Peter is High King, but I suppose if you look at it from Caspian’s point of view, Peter isn’t coming back to Narnia, so maybe he figures the title passes to Ed?

(Note: After reading the ComingSoon.net article it seems that the Examiner simplified the exchange and the term “High King” isn’t actually used.)

Reep Fight:
Eustace claims to be a pacifist. Excellent!

Beauty spell scene:
This has me worried. She actually says the spell??? Or maybe she reads it silently? And green mist? O brother…

Swords at Aslan’s Feet:
I like how this could be taken as a sign of submission. –That the Narnians can’t save the world, but they can do their part, and Aslan will do the rest.

BUT, ComingSoon.net reports that the swords must be placed on Aslan’s Table, which has me confused.

I’m not sure I like how Coriakin knows so much about the journey beyond (and we don't).

Reep telling Eustace stories:
Yes!!!!!!! Now, if only they don’t mess up Eustace’s honest man-to-man chat with Edmund after the undragoning, I will be a happy camper.

Lilliandil’s Entrance:
Wow, it seems she won’t appear earlier in the story like I thought she might. I wonder why all the ascending and descending in the trailers? And, (I can’t believe I’m writing this), how will the romance aspect work if we don’t meet her earlier in the film?

I am not much of a fan of Ed taking a liking to Lill, but oh well. I hope they keep the attraction pure. What on earth would we call it? Eddill? Lillianmund? Lilliedmund?

It looks like we’re going to have another Elizabeth Benet on our hands though. Lill seems rather feisty.

The rest of the scene seems 99% out of the book, except there is no mention of the Witch’s stone knife, which worries me…

Sea Serpent scene:
“The sea serpent is much larger than Eustace, and it is by far the most fearsome creature seen in a "Narnia" movie so far.” Oh, yeah!

The End:
Not too bad. I object to the “no going back” part though. What about Silver Chair? Eustace and Jill totally come back from Aslan’s Country and then back to and then back from again. This line should be CUT or ALTERED before the movie comes out.

(Again, after reading from ComingSoon.net it sounds like Mr. Apted said the line, not Aslan. Will the line be any different or better in the film?)

Overall:
There is a lot to like in these two articles, but a few snags bother me: the White Witch, Lucy having a vanity issue, etc.

Somehow this movie feels right, but the story seems all wrong. How can I have these two conflicting forces in my mind at the same time?

I look forward to going back and reading the first four pages of this discussion. It looks like fun! But for now, bedtime.

PS: I love this quote:
“I wasn’t going to let this go. The franchise is too important. I enjoy it too much. And quite frankly, I think the messages are too important.” –Mark Johnson

This is... ah. I would've been so much more optimistic about everything if I hadn't happened to read the bit about the White Witch, and the seven swords.. and can't actually believe they're doing this. It just doesn't make sense, to bring back the villain from the first movie, when she's dead, twice, and to make it a main part of the movie? I don't understand. It would make far more sense if it was something like Miraz's power coming back (although that's equally impossible), because at least then it would fit in the context of Caspian, and it's only 3 years on. But why would an ancient power like the WW come back now, more than 1000 years later? She's DEAD. Don't they get it?!
Sorry. Rant over.

The other stuff mostly sounded good, such as the details of Eustace (pinning insects to pieces of card - yay! ), and Reepicheep. I'm not too annoyed about Aslan's Country, although after reading through this thread, I agree that it's kind of ridiculous for then to choose England over Aslan's Country..

For the moment, I refuse to be worried about Eustace earning his undragoning. They've stressed so many times that this isn't the case that it seems fairly certain (to me) that they'll make it reasonably clear. And anyway, a certain Witch is on my mind far too much right now to worry about anything else.

Green mist around temptation? Now that is just lame. How does it even work anyway? It's more like an extremely obvious clue for the audience, "look, someone's just been tempted~"

Lucy being kidnapped, I can deal with, although it does take away the fact that she volunteered.. I don't know. It doesn't bug me that much at the moment.

I just really can't understand about the White Witch. I'd been getting the impression that there was only a tiny bit of footage of her anyway (that one line at the Dark Island), so how did they manage to make her a major part of the story???

Hmm, there is a lot of hot air and anxiety here.

I think in a week or two a lot of this will have settled down, and the usual suspects will have stopped fretting.

Let me help: remember that the people who have reported on the event do not know everything, they have been told some things and have observed others. They may have misconstrued what they heard/saw, or reported things said that are not actually how it really IS in the film (eg Lucy "appears" to have been kidnapped by invisible giants - they have large footprints with apparently long strides, their voices seem high up). They may not have as great Narnia background as some of us do. They have seen fragments, and the whole picture has deliberately been kept from them, so there are links and explanations which we will know in 3 months time.

All through this thread I have wanted to reply to people, but the most helpful (if you actually read this) is to say don't despair! This is not the whole picture.
Remember also that it has been adapted to make a coherent blockbuster movie with a united plot. You simply couldn't take the book and make it into a film - its episodic quality was okay for the BBC TV serial but needed a proper plot structure to make a good film.

The movie begins with a shot of a castle with a lion motif which might make you think that we're in Narnia, but the plane flying overhead immediately clues us in that we're in England, and from the attire, we can tell that it's in the '30s, presumably just as WWII is starting.

Someone might want to review their knowledge of WWII history.

Yeah I just assumed they were incorrect about the year.

We know that the blitz happened in LWW and it is at least two years later so the year is probably 1942 or 43, but whatever.

In the book, Caspian is looking for the seven lords out of a sense of responsibility. In the movie, apparently it's to save Narnia from the dark island.

You're wrong!
-they messed up how this film is NOT about saving Narnia, and to stop the white witch from returning (again!!!), but about adventure and discovery = correct.

-They changed Caspian his motives for this journey, and with that they changed his character = wrong!

We know that when Caspian first meets the pevensies in the film, he is surprised, because they weren't called, nor needed. This means that, when he left Narnia, He was trying to regain the honor his family lost, by searching for the Seven swords. Only while on this journey, he learns he needs to save Narnia.

So, No, they did not mess his character up.

I don't have time to read the whole thread, so please forgive me if somebody has already posted something like this…

In response to Glumpuddle's comments about how the core of the story has been lost if the voyage is to save Narnia:

I just remembered that in the first trailer, Edmund wonders why they were brought to Narnia, if there are no wars. Also, from one of these reports on the screening, we now know that Caspian tells them that he didn't summon them.

If the White Witch (or Dark Island) was threatening Narnia when Caspian set out, I think, given Prince Caspian (the movie) that to be consistent, they'd want to have him blow the horn.

Since he didn't summon the Pevensies, I think that Caspian likely set out with the initial intention of merely rescuing the lost lords, but when Coriakin lets him know about The Unfathomable Fate, he adds that to the agenda.

Makes sense to me Malfhok. I didn't read the story in depth 'cause I'm trying to minimize spoilers, but that theory puts a lot of the stuff I skimmed over in that story into context. It would add a sense of urgency and it all depends on how the writers wove in the additional storyline.

I refuse to draw a conclusion until I actually see the movie. We still don't have enough information. We now have more info, but I'm with coracle. These aren't necessarily people as familiar with the books as we are. They were also shown clips and not 30 min of the movie in a linear fashion. So there is still some information missing.

I therefore remain neutral in my opinion. At least until Dec. 10th.

Since he didn't summon the Pevensies, I think that Caspian likely set out with the initial intention of merely rescuing the lost lords, but when Coriakin lets him know about The Unfathomable Fate, he adds that to the agenda.

that's what I meant, thank you! What I also want to notice is that, maybe the unfathomable fate isn't the return of the white witch. It probably is, but think about the source. They might have shown some of the WW scene, after which they told the audience that The crew of the DT has to prevent the dark island from growing further. Maybe the reporter just assumed that the dark Island 'contains' the white witch, because that's what he saw in the footage, and what they actually showed was Edmund's worst nightmare.

Dunno if this makes any sense, but it is always possible! Just keep hoping!

OK, I'm a little calmer now. At first I thought that they had completely ruined the entire thing, but I decided to think about it logically. That is:

This is a second-hand report.

The people who saw the clips, as mentioned previously, might have misconstrued things. Even the interview with Apted could be confused, as he might have simplified things to the point that it changes. There seem to be inconsistencies throughout the whole report and interview, so I'm going to try and trust that things are going to turn out alright.

However, I really hope that Aslan doesn't give them a choice to either go to His country or return to England. That defeats the whole point of the ending of VODT, where Aslan says that they must go to His country through their own world. If they change that, I will be very upset.

Come on people who cares if Edmund might have a crush on Lilliandil. He's a guy who is 14 or 15, all guys would be lovestruck at any girl at that age.

And this is different from Caspian being lovestruck over Susan how exactly?

It's different because Caspian and Susan both acknowledged their glances yet said no devotions on how they felt. At least Caspian is making an effort with Lilliandil first telling her how she looks the "Most beautiful" and then Lilliandil makes a remark about distractions and is prompting to form into her star self or something and then both Caspian/Edmund shout 'No!' The glances that Caspian and Edmund gave each other could be the only thing that the person who wrote this story got mixed up with. Perhaps it's not jealous/annoying glances, maybe Caspian and Edmund only glanced in a "You Ginx" sort of way or Edmund going "oh okay, Caspian likes her so I probably shouldn't stand in the way". How are we to judge this scene without seeing a lot anyways? I don't think anything will happen between Edmund and Lilliandil anyways considering her character may be along the lines of Caspian's age. whatever.

Your probably right I was exstatic when i fist read the Ramandus Island part!!!!!!! So i am agreeing with you on that we dont know if the glance Caspian and Edmund made was an annoying one ar something else, and to Edmund is younger than Caspian so Lilliandil will totally fall in love with CASPIAN!!!!!! YAY

^ Of course they will joy93

It's inevitable for them, it should happen in order for them to continue the series so I'm not worried.

^ Of course they will joy93

It's inevitable for them, it should happen in order for them to continue the series so I'm not worried.

Don't take this the bad way, DamsellJillPole, but to me it seems like you support all possible romances in Narnia. Susan and Caspian, Jill and Tirian, ... Don't you believe that if these characters belong together, Lewis would have wrote it? But he decided not to, because he was trying to portray a different kind of love, one of honor and chivalry, like in the stories of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. That's why he described love as something pure, that only happens on the rarest occasion. I believe Lewis wouldn't like the way love is portrayed in the films, as a puberty thing filled with meaningless crushes and fantasies. That's something for another class of films, like 'a cinderella story'

So no, I do not support any romance in Narnia that is not in the books, or that is portrayed as something else than Lewis his ideas about the matter.

off topic, I know...

Well, I am going to see it in theaters, and I will be happy to support the effort. But I'm just not looking forward to it anymore. I feel betrayed in so many ways by all the production team who promised a "return" to LWW-faithfulness. But at this point, I would settle for PC-style faithfulness. The VDT changes are SO different from the book. It's no longer a matter of island shuffling and condensing for the sake of cinematic efficiency---we now have whole plotlines, new characters, and implied romances that were never meant to be part of Narnia.

I'm happy for those who can keep their enthusiasm, but I can't. I tried: I've managed to swallow all the bad news up until now. But now it's like I have no more faith left in the filmmakers to keep their promises of being faithful to the "spirit" of the book, much less the actual narrative line.

I always feel, when a director, producer, or screenwriter insists that changes are necessary, that they are really saying they don't want to do hard work to make the film. I always feel like changes are cop-outs.