A magical hit

Even the Christian subtext of Lewis's book is handled with taste and sensitivity. It's there, but never laboured.

Although shot in New Zealand by an American director, it remains lovingly true to its original cultural background.

With only a few weeks to go until the end of 2005, I was certain that Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit would be carrying off my plaudits as Film of the Year.

Now that I have seen this beautiful picture which achieves similar perfection on a far more stunning scale, I would have to give it to Narnia.

The script sticks amazingly - you could say 'religiously' - close to Lewis's novel.

The four Pevensie children are sent from London as Blitz evacueesto the rambling country house of the mysterious, eccentric but twinklingly benevolent Professor Kirke (played by the great Jim Broadbent).

Peter (played by Prince William lookalike William Moseley) is the oldest of the children, but his authority is disputed by his stroppy younger brother Edmund. Peter's somewhat priggish-sister Susan regards herself as a more responsible guardian of their small sister Lucy. It is, of course, Lucy who, in a game of hide and seek, discovers that a huge Jacobean wardrobe on the top floor contains more than just coats and mothballs.

'It's an awfully big wardrobe,' she comments in a masterpiece of English understatement as she stumbles out of its back and into the enchanted (and fabulously large) landscape of Narnia, where the White Witch (played by Tilda Swinton) has ruled the land for a hundred years of winter.

Director Andrew Adamson proves himself not only a master of effects and animation, which might be expected of the director of Shrek and Shrek 2, but an accomplished director of children.

The quality of the four young leading actors is exceptional - light years ahead of the Harry Potter cast, even on a first attempt. They make an utterly convincing and captivating family, and provide marvellous depth to characters which were fairly sketchy in Lewis's original.

Even their comic timing is impeccable, as when Peter resists the responsibility of saving Narnia from the White Witch by objecting, 'We're not heroes'. And Susan amplifies this by adding bathetically: 'We're from Finchley'.

The direction is a delight in both its sweep and its detail, as when the White Witch casually torches a passing butterfly and turns it to stone without even bothering to watch it plummet to earth.

Tilda Swinton must be singled out for her cold, cruel and commanding performance; Ray Winstone and Dawn French are hugely funny as the voices of Mr and Mrs Beaver (just two of many animated triumphs); Liam Neeson is impeccably leonine as the voice of the kind but powerful Aslan.

Despite the long running time (over two hours) I would recommend Narnia even for small children. Whatever your age, this is a magical movie, and far, far classier and more imaginative than I ever dared to hope.

More importantly, expect your heart - and the hearts of your children - to soar.