A war of words has erupted over the new film 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe' which opened with a glitzy premiere attended by Prince Charles & Camilla and a host of famous names.

CS Lewis's 1950s children's classic has been given the full Hollywood works for the 21st century but that hasn't stopped a battle developing over its alleged religious influences. In America right-wing and left-wing Christians are claiming the movie's message supports their viewpoint and in the UK an argument is already brewing.

Director Andrew Adamson - also responsible for 'Shrek' - said 'Yes, Lewis wrote from his own beliefs and I was aware of not damaging any theological implications (but) he didn't write it as a biblical allegory. I take a bit of an exception to that because it's a very limiting view - the story is much more imaginative than that.'

But award-winning children's' author Philip Pullman has described the Narnia stories as Christian propaganda, with the lion Aslan representing a resurrected Jesus. Veteran singer Cliff Richard, speaking before he attended the premiere, said: 'there is an incredibly strong Christian element to the book - fundamentally they are about Christianity. You can't change the story and I'll be mightily angry if that element of the book is taken out of the film.'

If the thought of an angry Cliff boggles the mind then so should the animatronics and CGI elements in the film. Apart from the four young leads well-known stars like Tilda Swinton, Jim Broadbent and James McAvoy have leading roles. Voices for the animals in the film include Ray Winstone & Dawn French as Mr & Mrs Beaver, Rupert Everett as the fox and Liam Neeson as Aslan.

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