Harry Potter Weekend continues and tonight we have Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, one of my favorite films of the series actually.  It is kind of nice to see all the films together at once in preparation for the new film that will be coming out.  I was having a discussion last night if reading the books make the movies more enjoyable or not, and if you have not read the books is it worth reading them after watching the movies.  I would answer yes to both accounts.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

It’s Harry Potter’s fourth term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) look forward to the international Quidditch finals. Harry dreams of spending time with the alluring Cho Chang. He wants to be a normal 14-year-old wizard. But Harry is not normal–even by wizarding standards. This term, for the first time in hundreds of years, a competition will be held between three schools of wizardry, and contestants will be magically chosen for the very dangerous event. Now, as Harry’s lightning scar burns, indicating the evil presence of Lord Voldemort, the Goblet of Fire makes its final selection for the competition – Harry Potter. (Live Action)

Remember all day today that ABC Family has other Christmas shows on during the day.

Zachary Levi (from Chuck!) recently was interviewed over at Collider, and he talked a little about his role in Disney’s upcoming Rapunzel, where his voice will star along with Mandy Moore in what will be the 50th animated feature from animated in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Along with some highlights of that interview, I also added some concept art that I had posted back in July over at BSC-proper.

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Levi states that his character is a bandit, named Flynn Ryder. When asked about the vocie he’d use he mentioned this:

It’s funny because when I auditioned for the part, he was supposed to be British and I auditioned with a British accent. And I got the job and was like, “Sweet! I get to do something outside of the box.” And then, they decided, “No, we’re not going to make him British. We’re just going to do your voice. Just do what you do.” And, I was like, “But, I don’t wanna do that!”

Now, Rapenzel goes back to Brothers Grimm, and is Disney is the King of mining and adapting this type of material. Levi was asked about the type of adaptation we should expect–whethrr it would be ‘traditional’ or not/

Yeah, kind of. It’s funny, I’ve seen some blogs and things with people freaking out because they’re like, “They’re going to make her action Barbie Rapunzel,” and that’s really not the case. As far as I’m concerned, John Lasseter is one of the most genius guys on the planet. He has done no wrong at Pixar, and it’s because he really knows how to make amazing movies.

You can read the full interview over at Collider. They also have a very cool image that I hadn’t seen before:

We should be getting Rapunzel during the next Holiday season!

To go along with the two promo images (here and here) we talked about earlier this week, there is now a video sneak peak for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows introduced by David Yates (director) and David Heyma (producer). This is from the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DVD/Blu Ray as a special feature.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part one) will be out in theaters on November 19th, 2010!

Whether a kid or parent you have to love Dave Petersen’s Mouse Guard. If you haven’t read it yet, and your a fan of (like everyone else!) Jeff Smith’s Bone, or just love fantasy/adventure in general-you HAVE to be Mouse Guard. I caught Petersen on Twitter post a quick camera phone pic of the next for an upcoming cover!

Mouse Guard is a terrific read for all ages, and if you haven’t dived in yet you need to pic up Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, the collected edition of the first 6 issues from Archaia Studio Press. You can’t go wrong with this series, it’s just quality reading and fun!

What’s it About?

In the world of Mouse Guard, mice struggle to live safely and prosper amongst harsh conditions and a host of predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed: more than just soldiers that fight off intruders, they are guides for common mice looking to journey without confrontation from one hidden village to another. The Guard patrol borders, find safeways and paths through dangerous territories and treacherous terrain, watch weather patterns, and keep the mouse territories free of predatory infestation. They do so with fearless dedication so that they might not just exist, but truly live. Saxon, Kenzie and Lieam, three such Guardsmice, are dispatched to find a missing merchant mouse that never arrived at his destination. Their search for the missing mouse reveals much more than they expect, as they stumble across a traitor in the Guard’s own ranks.

After you fall in love with it, you have more goodness with Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 to read! Make sure you check out the official Mouse Guard site.

CNN recently visited Pixar Animation Studios, the people who brought us Toy Story 1 & 2, Cars, The Invincibles, Up, Wall-E, Finding Nemo and more! Better yet, they have video of the tour to shares with all of us who haven’t been (though, I am accepting offers).

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban are on tonight and we are full into the ABC Family annual holiday marathon of Harry Potter. So I learn a bit after actually reading the press release that this is an annual thing with ABC Family, and it should be a long weekend after all the movies are complete.  While I still do not love the fact they are not holiday shows I can get on board with an annual tradition, plus over the weekend having the holiday shows on during the day may actually make more sense for the viewers.

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened! Harry Potter’s adventures continue in this second installment of the “Harry Potter” film series. After a horrid summer with the Dursleys and a harrowing return trip to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his second year studying the magic arts. But a long-buried secret threatens the school and all its students. Something evil whispers from within the walls – and only Harry can hear it. Now it’s up to Harry and his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) to defeat an awakened monster. (Live Action)

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
The magic and excitement are back with Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends as they prepare for their third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! While on summer break, Harry inadvertently causes some magical mischief while staying with his dreaded Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Fearing punishment for performing magic in the world of the Muggles, Harry attempts to runaway but is mysteriously rescued from the neighborhood and taken to a friendly inn – by way of a purple tripledecker bus – to spend the remaining weeks of summer. He soon learns the reason for being let off easy by school officials: Sirius Black – a convict from the Prison of Azkaban – is on the loose and after Harry. Once again, it’s up to Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) to save the school and the day! (Live Action)

So if you want your holiday shows over the weekend you need to check them out before primetime.  ABC Family has a bunch of shows going on during the day, while my boy was sick I actually watched Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish, and while the movie was eh, it was fun for the boys and it was holiday based.

Access Hollywood has a video interview with pop star Shakira about filming her recent role in Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place. Shakira admits it was her first acting gig since she was a teenager. She also remarked on how great it was to collaborate with Selena Gomez and the rest of the cast. The episode is slotted to air sometime early next year on the Disney Channel.

Sorry for the bad quality, I couldn’t find a better one and the original itself is pretty bad. BSCkids will be recapping this episode whenever it happens!

Max Steel was a cartoon and toyline (and Sega Dreamcast game) that started in the late ’90s and it looks like Mattel wants to bring the action to theaters with a name currently familiar with moviegoers in Taylor Lautner of Twilight and New Moon fame. I have to admit that I had never head of Max Steel in any form before now but we do have some information.

Lautner was a Junior World Champion in karate so we figure he can lead an action film. In the cartoon and Toy line, Max Steel is Josh McGrath, a teenage extreme sports fanatic who becomes a secret agent/superhero after an accident gives him abilities like changing his appearance, invisibility, and super-strength. Now, there were also Direct to TV movies that only feature the alter ego, Max Steel.

A report by Variety also indicates that the Max Steele toy line is Latin America’s best-selling action figure. Yopu can also check out Mattel’s Max Steel site.

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures has announced the winners of their annual awards, and among them is Pixar’s Up which along with winning the Best Animated Feature was recognized as one of 2009′s Ten Best Films.