I love Harry potter. I stated reading the books because my ex-hubby is a freak and didn't want our daughter to read them.
We are both groupies now (daughter and me)! I rub it in every chance I get too. LOL
I heard that C. S. Lewis "The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe" will be a movie soon. I can't wait.
I read the books because my daughter wanted to read the books. Just like I censor what she gets to watch on TV & @ the movies.
I can't say I loved the books, but I enjoyed them enough it was not a chore to read them. Reading the books together gave us an opportunity to talk @ length about the occult, evil, all kinds of good stuff.
Not that anyone @ my church really cares what I think, but I encourage parents to read these books with their kids and then talk about the topics. Help your child learn to discern fact from fiction, and truth from fantasy. Tell them WHY you believe what you believe. Just seems like a better response than the knee jerk "this is evil - stay away reaction".
With respect to the 12 year old who wants to be a witch, basing your response to the world on the reaction of a child you do not even know seems to be a poor decision making process.
Looks like a Christmas 2005 release. Disney's supposedly going to handle the distribution (I hope that's their only involvement) and it's about to be shot on a $100 million budget in New Zealand (hopefully using the same SFX people as LOTR). If Disney handles the whole project the title may be changed to "The Lion and the Witch Come Out of the Closet".