The House of Magic

An utterly charming and marvellously realised effort across the board, this action-packed fantasy adventure comes from the Belgian animation studio responsible for Fly Me to the Moon and A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures. Attaining a near perfect Disney-style mix of colourful inventiveness, engaging characters, eye-popping spectacle (especially in its 3D version) and fun-scary set pieces, it's a polished delight with ageless appeal. Abandoned cat Thunder is welcomed into the foreboding mansion of a retired magician, but must learn how to get along with the other cute animals and mysterious automated gizmos residing there. When the magician has a car accident and is hospitalised, his scheming nephew tries to sell his home from underneath him, forcing the adorable menagerie still living there to devise a haunted-house strategy to scare away any prospective buyers. With great knockout visuals and plenty of zany excitement, this is a ridiculously entertaining, bright and breezy package of wonder and laughter.