The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe

Also starring James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Shane Rangi, Patrick Kake, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Kiran Shah, James Cosmo, Judy McIntosh, Sala Baker, and the voices of Dawn French, Rupert Everett, Brian Cox, Ray Winstone.

I remember the late-Eighties BBC television version of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe with a great deal of affection.

There was something appealing about the huge fluffy Aslan the lion, which was clearly a (then) hi-tech variation of a pantomime horse, and Barbara Kellerman was a genuinely scary White Witch.

Times and computer technology have changed greatly since 1988 and Andrew Adamson's new version of the CS Lewis classic glistens with state-of-the-art special effects and spectacular action sequences.

The final battle between the four children and the White Witch's evil army is now a full-blown visual extravaganza, recalling the gargantuan battles from The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Animals - albeit computer-generated critters - can actually talk now, negating the need for actors to don fur and face-paint, although I would have paid good money to have seen Ray Winstone and Dawn French as full-size beavers complete with comically over-sized front teeth.

It's this reliance on technical wizardry and eye-popping special effects which proves the downfall of The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.

Putting aside all the religious iconography, which is evident in the film though not overtly so, Lewis's escapist fantasy is primarily a journey of self-discovery for four children.

The relationship between the siblings, overcoming their insecurities and differences to blossom into valiant young men and women, should be at the emotional heart of the story.

But somehow that has been lost in Adamson's film. Even Aslan's death on the stone table fails to wring a single tear.

The story begins during the Second World War when four youngsters - Peter (Moseley), Susan (Popplewell), Edmund (Keynes), and Lucy (Henley) - are evacuated from London into the country where they secure lodgings with eccentric Professor Kirke (Broadbent).

One dull rainy afternoon, the children play a game of hide and seek and Lucy stumbles upon the magical, snow-laden, fairy-tale kingdom of Narnia through a portal at the back of an old wardrobe.

She meets kind-hearted faun Mr Tumnus (McAvoy) and returns to Prof Kirke's house to tell her companions about her extraordinary escapades.

The four children soon become embroiled in a battle between good and evil in this strange land, joining forces with the lion Aslan (voiced by Neeson) to defeat the wicked Jadis, White Witch (Swinton).

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe remains largely faithful to Lewis's text on the most epic scale imaginable.

The four young performers are all solid: Keynes captures Edmund's moodiness well and Henley is just scrumptious.

Swinton plays the White Witch a little too coolly - the Witch's sleigh driver Ginarrbrik (Shah) is a far more malevolent presence in the film - but there are lively vocal performances from Neeson and co.

Production design is gorgeous, of course, and the computer effects are excellent although they don't always gel seamlessly with the live action.

In particular, the climactic showdown between the massed armies loyal to Aslan and the White Witch lacks the sheen of realism, with so many digital characters crowding the screen.

At the end of the film, the Professor assures Lucy they will return to Narnia one day.

Expect film versions of the later books, transforming the Narnia series into a franchise a la Harry Potter.