The end and the beginning

Went to go see STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH last night. Now, after the ginormous disappointment of the first two films, I walked into that theatre with absolutely ZERO expectations. And it was pretty good. Not EMPIRE STRIKES BACK good (ten on a scale of ten) or even STAR WARS (a new hope) good (9 on a scale of ten). It was a little bit closer to a RETURN OF THE JEDI good (7.8). Maybe a nice, healthy 7, compared to the first movie (3) and the second (4, but only becuase that scene with Yoda was so flippin’ cool I gave it an extra two points right there). The whole Darth Vader plotline was pretty freakin’ well done. The hunting of the Jedi (and no, this is not a spoiler, you know he was going to do it, Ben Kenobi tells you in the first half hour of Star Wars) was excessively well done.

The love scenes made me sick. I honestly don’t know how Natalie Portman could bring herself to recite some of that dialogue. And who goes to sleep wrapped in pearls?

Oh well. I thought it was a respectable ending to one of the greatest stories in human history. Go, George.

However, something that got me really really really really REALLY excited was one of the trailers. Though other of the trailers were huge WTF moments (The Island? Anyone? Does anyone think that sounds remotely original? And that movie about the stealth bomber robot killing machine? Quoth Sailor Boy, “The only way to guarantee that a computer will develop artificial intelligence is to hook it up to a weapon”) THIS trailer made me so happy. Ecstatically Happy. From the very first scene, from the very first moment of four pasty little British kids in the back of a wagon, I *knew* I KNEW! I grabbed SB’s arm and sat up straight in my seat and started quivering.

Sailor Boy, who despite his slavish obsession with Tolkien, does not share the same appreciation for Tolkien’s very very very best friend, was all, “What? What?”

“Narnia!” I hissed. “It’s Narnia!”

He didn’t believe me until he saw the wardrobe.

Oh, God, it looks good. Aslan’s a tad thin, and it looks as if there’s a danger of Weta Workshop going back to the well a few too many times, but what the hell. If Narnia looks a bit like a really really colorful Middle Earth, I think Lewis and Tolkien would have wanted it that way. And Cair Paravel was *perfect* — and the minotaur, and the winter, and the *look* — oh, perfect perfect perfect. Sigh, I cannot wait for this movie! CANNOT WAIT!

But today, I think I’m going to have to watch STAR WARS (A New Hope) — and I don’t think I’m alone in that.

One more thing, before I bow out: Warner Author Kelley St. John has interview me for her “The Call” featurette on her website. Hear all about the my exciting sale to Bantam Dell!