Are you shutting down all non-essential programs (especially anti-virus) before trying to start the game?

What resolution is your desktop and game at? Some people have had a problem with DirectX switching resolutions, that could be avoided by setting the game and desktop resolution to be the same.

If you run dxdiag (click Start | Run, type in dxdiag and hit Enter), does it report any problems?

Do you have any video filters installed? At least the ReClock DirectShow Filter needs to be disabled to play the game videos. In Windows Explorer, if you browse to the '..\Beyond Divinity\Static' folder, can you view the 'intro.mpg' video?

Lady_Rain describes an MS patch for video related problems in the topic CRASHING TO WINDOWS

Check if there are files called debug.lst or error.txt In the Beyond Divinity folder.