The film is the story of four children, Edmund, Lucy, Peter and Susan Pevensie, who are evacuated during the war and sent to live in a large house occupied by the eccentric professor Dicory Kirke and his housekeeper. During their long, boring days at the house the children pass the time by playing games and it is during hide and seek that Lucy (the youngest of the Pevensie's) discovers an old wardrobe hidden away in an (almost) empty room. She enters it to hide but discovers that there appears to be no back to the thing and suddenly finds herself in a snow-filled land and in the company of Mr. Tumnus, a faun. There she learns that this new land, the land of Narnia, is being ruled by the evil White Queen and that she keeps the land in perpetual winter - always winter, never Christmas. A prophecy states that two 'daughters of Eve' and two 'sons of Adam' will reclaim the land back from the wintery one and, hey presto, all will be well in the kingdom of Narnia. With the help of the lion Aslan the four children must face their greatest fears and help restore Narnia back to its former glory.

Once again, as in Peter Jackson's trilogy, it is the New Zealand landscape and visual effects that really bring the film to life and open out the whole scope of the books vision. With some stunning scenery and jaw-dropping special effects (especially the climactic battle) the movie truly is a joy to behold and a great testement to WETA Digital's skill and dedication. I love sci-fi and fantasy films but only if the effects take centre stage and in this production they truly do.

This four-disc edition is beautifully packaged in a fold-out disc holder replete with 'additional notes' booklet with each disc featuring artwork from the film which all slip into a silver outer sleeve. The only real problem with the entire 'Extended Edition' edition is that it isn't really extended at all. The LOTR trilogy had an extra two hours or so of extra material rammed into it and really helped develop the films as a whole but sadly this 'extended' version has roughly about ten minutes of additional footage - was it worth shoving it in I hear you cry? Not really. It doesn't add to the film. In fact you'd be hard pushed to spot the extra stuff.

This 4-disc edition is available from Amazon for an amazing £7.98 new. The used copies are going for £7.95 upwards so that rules them lot out!

All in all the movie is fantastic with tonnes of bonus material giving a great insight into the whole experience of making a film of such depth. With 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' in post-production and 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' in pre-production as we speak this is a great way to take that tentative first step into the world beyond the wardrobe.