HOW many people out there would freeze at the sight of a flea, scream when they see a spider and positively jump out of their own skin should a grasshopper cross their path?

Count me in. I have got to be the world's biggest coward when it comes to small slimy creatures that move faster than me, fly in front of my face and threaten to crawl around my person when I'm sleeping.

Give me a 10 foot charging elephant or a lion with a thorn in his paw any time.

Not that you'd expect to find any of the aforementioned creatures in a succulent, mouth-watering peach (well, an odd maggot perhaps) - unless that is, it's at Uncle Roald's (Dahl) house and its owner is called James.

Yes, with Tom Cruise still trying to crack his Mission Impossible (keeping Independence Day off number one spot this weekend) and Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt tied up with Twister, fantasy land took over at UCI Cinemas, Westbrook, on Sunday with the fruity little number, James and the Giant Peach.

One of the best children's books ever written (way back on 1961) is transformed into animation - with the odd human being thrown in for good measure - to follow the tale of James, a lonely young boy who escapes a miserable life with his horrible Aunts, Sponge and Spike, (Joanna Lumley as not exactly an absolutely fabulous auntie), when he is given a bag of magical 'little green things' that create, among other things, a giant peach.

And that's where all the creepy crawlies and things that go bump in the night come in.

James's friends include Miss Spider (with the sexy voice of Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon complete with thigh-length boots), Grasshopper, Ladybug, Earthworm and Centipede and for some reason, the group finds it necessary to break out into song every 15 minutes.

But if you can bear the singing and manage to stop itching and scratching when the ugly bugs appear, you'll enjoy it.

7/10 It's great for the kids which meant I loved it.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.