Couch potato David (Tobey Maguire) is an encyclopedic fan of 1958 TV show Pleasantville - a town in which nothing nasty or unexpected happens.

But, after David and his sexy sister Jen (Reese Witherspoon) get sucked into the TV via a channel zapper lent them by an odd repair man (Don Knotts), they find themselves uneasy inhabitants of Pleasantville's black-and-white world.

Jen's influence soon makes splashes of colour appear in the town as, while David attempts to fulfil his role as a dutiful son, she initiates her boyfriend into sex and puts forbidden music on the jukebox!

And then all hell breaks loose within the quaint TV-land world. It's ingenious, inventive - and a bit too long. Judge for yourselves whether Pleasantville has been changed for the better by the time David goes home.