The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe

Herald rating: ****

There are moments in this much-anticipated spirited and engaging fantasy flick of strong local ties, when you know thatC. S. Lewis has stepped aside for the guy who brought Shrek to the big screen.

One such moment involves a very well-spoken horse named Phillip. The eloquent equine delivers the sort of one-liner you won't find much in Lewis' beloved quaintly English books.

And in that quip and many other it shows that New Zealand animator-turned-director Andrew Adamson and team realised that, beloved book or not, the material required leavening.

Otherwise, even with all those special effects, bringing Narnia and its talking creatures to life would have played as archaic as a Famous Five adventure.

Though it's not that the Pevensie kids - Edmund (Keynes), Lucy (Henley), Peter (Moseley), and Susan (Popplewell) - have exactly been dragged into the 21st century. They are still the sort of British children who have always populated Disney movies whatever the period.

And if there's a weakness to the film it's that the collective screen presence of the four isn't as attention-grabbing as perhaps it should be.

Yes, Henley is beyond cute. But as for the rest, it's a bit like watching young members of the royal family - they're nicely spoken and photogenic but you're not too sure there's anything more to them.

It doesn't help that they share some dialogue which occasionally comes down with a case of the Enid Blytons.

But there's a lot to grab the attention away from them.

And if you start feeling that Narnia residents like the animated Mr and Mrs Beaver (voiced by Ray Winstone and Dawn French) or the half-man/half-deer faun Mr Tumnus (a terrific James McAvoy) are more convincing than the young human characters, then that's not such a bad thing.

Likewise, Tilda Swinton as the White Witch is a rare Narnia character not requiring too much computer wizardry - she is her own special effect.

In her pivotal scene against Aslan, she is so chilling that it seems no one has thought to tell her she's starring in a film of a kid's book (and you do fear for her fair complexion when she's out in her battle chariot in the bright South Island sun).

This first Narnia film is long and its momentum suffers from Lewis' logic - Father Christmas turning up as a benevolent arms dealer? Why not? But Adamson gives the film a clarity of purpose in its storytelling that carries it through.

The film doesn't much underline its much-touted Christian allegory.

Hey, I went to Sunday school and was quite prepared to play spot-the-biblical-bits.

Needn't have bothered really.

Although hearing young Edmund or Peter being addressed as a "son of Adam" is a little disconcerting given our familiarity with the Kiwi director's surname.

Yes, that local scenery of ours looks lovely and verdant and there's even a West Coast beach sunset to make you wonder why all the good local films arrive in summer.

It's not a movie that was designed to compete in The Lord of the Rings league and though it's but one of the seven-strong Chronicles it is self-contained and doesn't require long-term commitment to the inevitable sequels.

But if they do carry on after this pleasing opening, we do hope to hear from that nice gee-gee Phillip again.

CAST: Tilda Swinton, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, James Mcavoy, Jim Broadbent; The voices of Liam Neeson, Rupert Everett, Ray Winstone, Dawn French
DIRECTOR: Andrew Adamson
RATING: Unconfirmed
RUNNING TIME: 150mins
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley Cinemas from Friday