Canada, United Kingdom

AnimationComedyFamilyFantasy

Based on novel or bookHalloweenFamilyGhostHalloween costumeEccentric familyAnimationCinema

Kim Burdon

Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Freddie Highmore, Emily Carey, Imelda Staunton, Meera Syal

Giles New, Keiron Self

Arc Productions, Melmoth Films, Sprout Pictures, D’Arblay Films, Dorado Media and Capital, Align, Space Age Films, Toonz Media Group

Taglines: It's his house, not yours.

An American family moves in to the Canterville Chase, a London mansion that has been haunted by ghost Sir Simon De Canterville for 300 years.

Reviews:

Author: Geronimo1967
Well there's never going to be a better version of this than Charles Laughton's 1944 iteration, but this is still actually quite a watchable adaptation of Oscar Wilde's short story. It centres around an American family who relocate to creaky and spooky old "Canterville Chase" - a stately pile that is reputedly haunted by a menacing spectre. The "Otis" family have three children and after the odd eerie visitation, they become distinctly unafraid of their haunting buddy - indeed they are soon trying to find some way of helping "Sir Simon" to lift the curse that has trapped him in limbo for some three hundred years and also to reunite him with his long lost love before the Grim Reaper wins the day. The animation is adequate and there are plenty of whimsical goings on - it's just that the story is over-stretched, there's way too much dialogue and I actually find this works better with real people/scenarios. Animation offers too few limitations on the creative ghostliness and so at times this looks a little too much like an episode of "Scooby Do". Maybe daft to write, but it isn't quite real enough for me! Still, it's good that this story is still doing the rounds - it's a fun tale of true love that's stood the test of time well.