Based on the Roald Dahl book, this family Halloween flick is a whole lotta fun for kids and adults. A kid named Luke is warned by his grandmother about witches being everywhere and kidnapping children. After his parents die, Luke lives with his grandmother. The two go on vacation at a seaside resort where there is also a witch convention taking place. Luke accidentally hears the witches’ entire plot to turn all children into mice, then is turned into a mouse himself. It’s up to him to stop the witches before they can carry out their plan.

The Head Witch is played by Angelica Huston and Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) plays the owner of the resort. The puppet work was done by Jim Henson’s group. While I love Jim Henson, the mice puppetry is kind of laughable and not very seamless with the live animals. The make-up and FX are not bad for the time period.

It’s not much of a horror movie, but it has some suspenseful parts and scared the crap out of my 4-year-old. I definitely think this should be a yearly family Halloween classic like Ernest Scared Stupid, Hocus Pocus, or Ghostbusters.

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