Koshchey. Pokhititel nevest

"Drybones" and his family of bats live in his rather menacing looking castle where the poor chap is struggling to find a bride. It possibly doesn't help that he has the reputation of turning those who reject his love into frogs! Meantime, the sorceress "Mara" has her eyes on him, and she knows the secret of his immortality. He has a week to decide whether he is to be her's forever or instead face his doom (and probably still end up as her plaything!). In the neighbouring kingdom, the scheming but pretty hapless king "Gorokh" - aided by his rather malevolent puppet "Punch" - is trying to get his hands on the fortune of the feisty "Varvara" so he can take over the world. With both characters in a bit of a predicament, can they join forces to save each other from fates worse than death - and who knows, maybe even fall in love? It's actually quite a fun little animation this. It takes it's inspiration from vampiric myth with lots of action, a soupçon of "Camelot" and even features his goblin-esque helpers "Bram" and "Stoker" to help it pass effortlessly, if completely forgettably, for seventy-five minutes. It sort of falls between two stools - the kids in the cinema when I saw it were unimpressed and the adults have seen it all before. Still, it's not terrible and it offers a gently entertaining family horror story that will do fine as Christmas television fodder.