Just how much Disney has looked to Warner Brothers' The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the production of its rival fantasy franchise based on CS Lewis' Narnia tales is readily apparent.

It, too, has picked a Kiwi director to helm the project in Andrew Adamson, who was behind the lens for the two Shrek films, and chosen the dramatic landscapes of New Zealand to represent the magical land of Narnia as did Middle Earth.

Unfortunately, Lewis' vision lacks the breadth and detail of Tolkien's, and the slightness may put off many of the older fantasy fans who loved the Rings.

Still, Adamson does fill his film with the requisite cast-of-thousands battle scenes and humour to appeal to today's youth, while retaining the cosiness of the original the Pevensie children tuck into hot buttery toast to fortify themselves for battle to appeal to older viewers for whom the book was a childhood favourite.

The Pevensie kids are sent by their mother to stay with relative Professor Kirke in his country manor to escape the bombings of the Second World War in London. Kirke has little time for them, but his house has plenty of rooms to explore, including one which has a walk-in wardrobe to shame Mariah Carey with its spaciousness.

Behind the rows and rows of fur coats lies Narnia, a snow-blasted land cursed by the White Witch (Tilda Swinton), whose despotic rule means any disobedients are frozen stiff.

When all four siblings enter Narnia, the friendly talking beavers and foxes tell them of their destiny to save Narnia. Convinced of their fate by the king of the animals, Aslan the lion, they take on the White Witch in a battle of good versus evil. Much of the darkness of Lewis' film is excised. The sacrifice of Aslan, so alarming on the page, is not as affecting here. Even armies of wolves, who have Soprano-like New York wiseguy voices, provide little threat.

It is up to Swinton to bring the menace, which she does in spades. The acting of the youngsters is also fantastic.

But, it's not a film which will trouble the Academy Award panel as Peter Jackson's film did, but it is an entertaining and epic big screen adaptation of a classic novel.