Directed by Ben Gregor | Written by Simon Farnaby, adapting the book series by Enid Blyton | 110 min | ▲▲▲1/2

For those not familiar, Enid Blyton was an institution in Great Britain for years for her popular children’s books like The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. You could say she was her era’s JK Rowling, read by simply everyone and, over time, complete with her own undercurrent of controversy — her work was considered shallow by the literary crowd when she was writing, and more recently it’s earned accusations of ye olde sexism and racism.

Nonetheless, the affection for her adventures continues. Witness The Magic Faraway Tree, brought to the screen by Paddington 2 and Wonka writer Simon Farnaby.

Here we have the Thompsons. Tim and Polly (Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy) are city folks with kids all addicted to their devices. But Tim and Polly had a dream of living off the land, making sauce from heirloom tomatoes. The kids, Joe, Fran, and Beth (Phoenix Laroche, Billie Gadsdon, and Delilah Bennett-Cardy) aren’t at all pleased with this plan when they decamp to a barn in the middle of nowhere that doesn’t even have electricity. Fran wanders into the woods, discovering the titular tree full of fairies and magical folk — including a delightful Nonso Anozie as Moonface and Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan as Silky — and beyond that a whole universe of wonder, a ladder to a different magical land every day.

The set-up brings a whimsy as sweet as Wonka, the initial adventures to various floating fantasy lands like an endless serving of over-sugared grocery store cakes. But Beth, the slightly goth-coded eldest daughter, she’s the hardest to convince that the countryside is genuinely full of magic and soon the family’s plans have been discovered by the frightful, money-obsessed Grandma (Jennifer Saunders), and a welcome melancholy crawls into the tale.

As we go along the picture’s themes become clear — the sacrifices Tim and Polly have made to have a family and live in the modern world, and how important it is to hold onto childhood dreams and a connection to nature.

The third act provides some genuine jeopardy, and a flight of famous faces in fantastic frocks — including Michael Palin, Lenny Henry, Simon Russell Beale, Jessica Gunning, and the wonderful Rebecca Ferguson as Dame Snap, who was once known as Dame Slap in the books, back in the day of canings and spankings.

This picture won me over. It turns out climbing The Magic Faraway Tree is an unexpected pleasure.