The Grinch

A magical treatment of the Dr Seuss story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas is an elaborate fantasy directed with aplomb by Ron Howard. The narration, spoken in rhyming couplets by Anthony Hopkins, introduces Whoville, an idealised and enclosed world whose inordinate jollity is clouded only by the existence of The Grinch, a reclusive curmudgeon (played with terrific panache by Jim Carrey).

102 Dalmatians

Going on release here next Friday is the imaginatively-titled sequel, 102 Dalmatians, in which Glenn Close returns as the wicked Cruella De Vil, this time teaming up with a fashion designer - named Jean Pierre Le Pelt and played by Gerard Depardieu - to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting canine world.

Pokemon 200

Ash, Pikachu and the entire Pokemon brigade return in the animated Pokemon 2000, which Warner Bros describes as "a spectacular, all-new adventure" in which a strange force threatens the Pokemon world and Ash must summon all his courage and strength to save the planet, no less. Pokemon 2000 is set for release on December 22nd.