Axel Scheffler's beautiful illustrations are sympathetically brought to life in this lovely adaptation of Julia Donaldson's classic children's story .

A magical tale, the Gruffalo features a mouse who takes a walk through the wood in search of a nut only to encounter three predators who want to eat him - a fox, an owl and a snake.

The plucky mouse is able to get the better of his enemies by using his imagination to outwit them, only to find that the ferocious looking Gruffalo which he thought was imaginary is actually real after all! But just how will the mouse be able to stop the Gruffalo from wanting to eat him too?

Rather than being blown up to a full feature length film like Where The Wild Things Are or Horton Hears a Who! this thirty minute production stays close to the orginal text which I think is no bad thing, especially at 5.30pm on Christmas Day.

Nothing of the original beautiful illustrations is lost in the move from book to screen and the production is further helped by an all star cast, including James Corden as the mouse, Robbie Coltrane as The Gruffalo, Helena Bonham Carter as the squirrel narrator, John Hurt as the owl and Rob Brydon as the snake. Perfect family viewing.

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