AS German bombs descend on London during World War II, Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) are evacuated to the country, where they secure lodgings with eccentric Professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent).

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

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

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 clash of the titans from The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

It's this reliance on technical wizardry, which often proves the undoing of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.

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

But somehow, that is lost in Adamson's film.

The screenwriters grandly embellish a number of scenes (the children's meeting with Father Christmas follows a chase across the frozen wasteland that doesn't appear in the book) and expand peripheral characters.

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

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

Damon Smith