The ice maid cometh

The book by CS Lewis was a slim volume. The film from Disney is a fat movie, lasting more than two hours. I wish I could like it better because it tells its story with painstaking faithfulness and its Christian message, though obvious enough for most adults, is not laboured (in fact, young viewers will hardly notice it unless it's explained to them).

But Andrew Adamson's direction here hasn't the flair of Shreks I and II, his global animation hits, and there's a distinctly tepid tone to his story-telling. Any resemblance in terms of pure cinema to either Mike Newell's Harry Potter movie or the work of Peter Jackson is purely coincidental. Of real flair there is practically none.

That said, I readily admit I'm not the perfect audience for this reverently ordered fantasy about good and evil in the world of Narnia, and thus our own. The beginning is the best thing about it, as the four Pevensie children - Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy - are whisked out of the dangerous London of the Second World War into the creaking country house of Jim Broadbent's old professor.

Playing hide-and-seek, one of them steps through the back of an old wardrobe and discovers Narnia, a land enveloped by an endless wild, white winter, where animals talk and mythical creatures roam the cold hills.

The entrance to this icy world is very well done, albeit in a straightforward, not particularly imaginative way. The first sighting of Tilda Swinton's White Witch, malevolent ruler of this separate universe, is fine, too. It's a perfect piece of casting.

The disappointment comes as the children discover the strength to fight evil and restore goodness and the film deteriorates. By the time Aslan, the lion king who has been deposed by witchery, has sacrificed himself for the good of all, adults may begin to feel that this really is The Passion of the Christ for kids.

Added to that, the CGI battle scenes, with their grotesque nasties flailing at the goodies, pale beside those of Jackson's Tolkien films. Lewis's magic words, which at least made the imagination tick over, remain stronger than the film's eye.

The children themselves, though, are well played, with Georgie Henley particularly apt as Lucy, the youngest and first to enter Narnia. Of the voicing adults, Ray Winstone and Dawn French do well as the bickering but kindly Mr and Mrs Beaver, and James McAvoy is fun as Mr Tumnus, the slightly camp faun who risks his life for Lucy. Liam Neeson makes Aslan a noble enough figure, resurrected in time to save the day.

What this trip to Narnia lacks is the cinematic spark that would prevent it plodding sincerely though the twists and turns of the story. Tolkien, who apparently converted Lewis, his fellow don, to Christian belief, later said he hated the whole concept of Narnia. If he'd seen this film, I don't think he would have changed his mind.

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