If you weren't quite old enough to handle the high-adrenalin adventure of Lord of the Rings then The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe provided the perfect primer.

This time the Pevensie children totter further into LOTR territory – there's walking trees and all-consuming river breakers – yet there's nothing to wake youngsters up screaming in a cold sweat.

Things look good in a genuinely stunning opening sequence, when we see them teleported from a grimy 1940s tube station to an idyllic beach cave back in the land of Narnia.

They may have aged a year... but 1,300 years have passed for the unfortunate locals, seeing them reduced to hiding out in a dark forest following persecution by the vicious Telmarines, a race of humans led by the merciless King Miraz.

With the birth of a son and heir, Miraz's nephew Prince Caspian (Barnes) is at risk of his life so flees into the forest where he's taken in by the dwarves Trumpkin and, erm, a badger.

Eventually the paths of the Pevensies and Prince Caspian meet and – despite a bit of Alpha Male wrangling between the prince and Peter Pevensie – they set off to defeat the dark forces of Lord Miraz.

With its rich gallery of weird creatures – centaurs, Patterwig the squirrel, Bulgy Bear and Tilda Swinton – young viewers will be entranced even if that means there's no violently gratifying fisticuffs for older teens.

Mind you, the nocturnal raid on Miraz's castle and the final battle is expertly marshalled, echoing a certain fight scene at Helm's Deep - and there is a slightly icky moment where Eddie Izzard's sword-wielding mouse Reepicheep slashes the throat of one of Miraz's warriors.

Sex subtly rears its head - there's an unspoken attraction between Caspian and Susan and at one stage she does give him the horn. The sacred ivory horn. So he can summon Aslan if things get too dicey.

It's basically a medieval army replete with giant caterpaults up against an alliance of The Railway Children and the more bellicose residents of London Zoo.

Tim Evans