It was clear who had grown up with The Chronicles. As I looked around at the 150 or so people with me in the cinema today I could count on one hand the number of watchers under the age of 10! Still, as the “season” progresses and as kids start their Christmas holiday – I’m sure that this movie would attract more and more of them and create a new generation of readers.

In the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Peter, Susan, Edmund and the young charming heroine Lucy stumble on to the wardrobe for the first time when they are sent to the country to escape the London blitz. The wardrobe is a fur coat lined doorway that leads to the magical world of Narnia that has been plunged into an endless winter.

I found myself rather charmed as the four kids join the magnificent Aslan and his crew of beavers, fauns, centaurs, etc. in the Great Battle against ice witch Tilda Swinton. Some of the acting was a bit ho-hum, except for the child actor who played Lucy, so I must concur with reviews that state that the human acting is upstaged for the most by the CGI animals.

I’m sure there will be inevitable comparisons to Harry Potter and the LOTRs but I think as the first in a potential serial of seven movies I think the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a treat to watch with the same magical fantasy of the LOTRs but with more of a child-like wide-eyed feel.