DreamWorks' animated feature Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, opening today, is a work of art.

It seamlessly integrates traditional cell animation with stunning advances in computer animation.

The characters are drawn with the same meticulous, loving care the animators at Disney lavished on Bambi, Dumbo, Snow White and Pinocchio.

The backgrounds and special effects have been supplied by technical wizards on their computers.

The result is magical, especially when Sinbad is battling sea monsters, gargantuan birds or celestial monsters.

The combination of the two styles also allows Sinbad's boat to look as if it is riding the waves.

Such technical excellence is bound to impress adults and older children more than Sinbad's target younger audience - and therein lies the problem.

Sinbad was written by John Logan, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Gladiator.

It's one thing not to condescend to children, but it's another to pretend they don't demand certain things in their animated films while shying away from others.

There are three centrepieces in Logan's Sinbad.

The first is an adventure story in which Sinbad the self-proclaimed sea rascal (Brad Pitt) battles mighty foes.

Then there's the strong theme of friendship.

Sinbad thought he had seen the last of his childhood friend Proteus (Joseph Fiennes) years earlier, but now holds the prince's life in his hands.

These already entwined storylines are criss-crossed with a love story.

From the moment the young Sinbad saw Marina (Catherine Zeta-Jones) arrive to become Proteus's fiancee, he was smitten.

This was the woman of his dreams, but she belonged to his friend - so he sailed as far away from temptation as possible.

Now fate and Eris (Michelle Pfeiffer) the meddling goddess of chaos brings her back into his life, arms and heart.

There have been love affairs in other animated features but they haven't been nearly as pronounced or intrusive as this one in Sinbad.

Sinbad needed more chaos and less eros.

A little more peril and a little less romance would have gone a long way to making this an adventure classic.

Pitt gives Sinbad a kind of Indiana Jones cockiness and Zeta-Jones makes Marina anything but a damsel in distress. She ends up saving Sinbad as many times as he does her.

There's a lot of witty banter between these characters that Pitt and Zeta-Jones make sparkle.

It makes one long to see them do the same in the flesh.

Pfeiffer perfectly understands her role as the villain.

She's a smoothly sardonic puppetmaster playing with humans for pleasure and gain.

One of the staples of animated features are the animals.

Logan gave Sinbad a drooling dog named Spike but didn't find nearly enough for the hilarious canine to do.

Sinbad is undeniably enjoyable.

It just needed to give its hero one or two more adventures, a dozen or so more surefire jokes and perhaps a song or two.

(This film is rated G)

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