Although it boasts a Broadway-style score by Danny Elfman, who also sings the role of Jack Skellington, this stop-motion animation film is not exactly Beauty and the Beast.

In Halloweentown, Jack the Pumpkin King is tired of the same old routine of making people scream every 31 October and, to the dismay of his fellow monsters, finds something better - enchanting Christmastown - where he plans to take over the work of Sandy Claws.

This is ingenious stuff with some magic touches, but ponderously paced in keeping with the rather stately score, so adults with a sense of the bizarre might enjoy it most.

Also known as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, though it's directed by Henry Selick.