MONSTER FAMILY (PG)

EMMA Wishbone (voiced by Emily Watson) is beginning to believe that her luck will never change.

She works in a book shop which is in dire financial straits, her husband Frank (Nick Frost) doesn’t have any time for his loved ones because of his gruelling work schedule, her teenage daughter Fay (Jessica Brown Findlay) is sullen and noncommunicative, and young son Max (Ethan Rouse) is being bullied mercilessly by classmates.

In order to raise their spirits, Emma suggests the whole family should attend a Halloween costume party thrown by her perky co-worker, Cheyenne (Celia Imrie).

She telephones a costume hire shop but inadvertently calls Count Dracula (Jason Isaacs), who becomes fixated on the mother.

The fanged fiend instructs ageing witch Baba Yaga (Catherine Tate) to cast a spell over Emma so she becomes a vampire for real.

The hag obliges but her enchantment affects the entire family, transforming each member of the Wishbones into their costumed alter ego.

Thus, patriarch Frank metamorphoses into Frankenstein’s monster, Fay becomes a mummy and little Max howls like a werewolf.

In order to break the spell and return to their human forms, the warring Wishbones put their differences to one side and work together for a change.