Panto at the Bristol Hippodrome, one of the biggest regional theatres in the UK, is usually a high-budget affair but this year's offering, a retelling of the classic Disney story Cinderella, is as spectacular as pantomime gets. 

You can really tell that a lot of thought, time, effort, and - yes - money, has gone into Bristol's festive show and because of that, any families, and particularly little ones will be blown away by it. 

Craig Revel Horwood is the show's celebrity star attraction, and considering he's been playing a pantomime villain on Strictly for years he was the perfect person to play Cinderella's wicked stepmother alongside her ugly sisters hilariously named Tess and Claudia. 

Craig is definitely good value for money as the scheming and often self-deprecating bad guy, especially against the perfectly cast Cinderella who is superb as the blonde-haired diminutive whiter-than-white heroine.

But while the television judge may have been Cinderella's star, a returning Andy Ford as Cinderella's lovesick best friend Buttons is its heart. 

If you've seen a panto at the Bristol Hippodrome in the last decade you'll probably have seen the Bristol-based comedian Andy Ford providing comic relief and his relentless performance in this will make you question why they ever made the decision to not have this local icon in the panto for a couple of years. 

Literally, every scene that Andy Ford was part of, be it on his own or with other cast members, is simply brilliant pitch-perfect family entertainment. And clearly knowing this, the script thankfully calls for Andy to be in a lot of scenes.

Adding the magic, assisted by some cool lighting and plenty of stage tricks, and a surprising amount of warm earnestness is cabaret star Alison Jiear as the Fairy God Mother who performs an original song about believing in dreams coming true as well as narration. 

But there was one very impressive standout moment, in particular, involving Cinderella's carriage and flying horses literally soaring over the audience, while Cinderella and Buttons are sat in it, that left many children completely in awe and even caused this hardened theatre-goer's jaw to drop - a truly spectacular set-piece for a very slick show. 

Cinderella is a highly polished panto affair and truly has it all. It's well worth the trip for that carriage moment alone, but everything else is great, and a nice little bonus on top.