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Witless as it may seem, “The Little Vampire” is a charming yet attractive film which tells a story of a child from San Diego moving to Scotland with his family where he encounters a household of vampires. This movie is derived from a best selling children’s novel by German writer Angela Sommer Boden burg. However, those darling circular wire frames on the characters’ glasses strongly indicate that Harry Potter books have at least partial responsibility as well.
The film does not open very well, young Tony, characterized by Jonathan Lipnicki, is shown having little affection for Scotland, and in a rather dire situation as his father, Tommy Hinkley, is busy trying to build a golf course for renown lord, McHatton John Wood. He is bullied by the local children at school, completely cut off from society, and in great disturbance, and a rather annoyed in the nightmare of his controlling parents.
Things suddenly change one night when a bat suddenly turns into a boy named Rudolph (Rollo Weeks) and flies into Tony’s fireplace. The boy, who is a vampire, is lonely as well. What Kid Omits That? Rudy takes Tony to visit his vampire family who have been in hibernation for 300 years. His family is waiting for a comet to follow the moon and cast a beam of light on a magical amulet. Unfortunately, Rudy’s dad (Richard E. Grant) only has half.
The area is being patrolled by a vampire hunter by the name of Rookery (Jim Carter), and he shows up in a giant truck with goggles, search lights, drills, cages, and neon crucifixes. His boxes also have snowplows for some strange reason. This sort of transformation ought to earn him praise and royalties from Chris Elliott’s character in “Snow Day.” The film is directed towards children, but it was shot with the utmost adult intelligence. Remove Rookery and Anna’s (Anna Popplewell) presentation scene of a dead mouse to which she adds, “if you ever need me just whistle, and we’re left with very strange scenes. Anna explains the dead mouse is a charm to get him out of trouble. You know how to whistle, don’t you? Just noise.” Whistling here may be seen as inappropriate, which makes a lot of sense. (In reference to the film, Pepperell’s comments on IMDB really do stand out because the film, as I have read, was adored by everyone: “my brother and sister, 5 and 9, both loved It and so did an audience full of children at the test screening.”
For kids over the age of 12, it may be a bit too childish.” The movie has top notch credits, starting with Ulu Edal, director of *Last Exit to Brooklyn*; the writers Karey Kirkpatrick for *James And The Giant Peach* and Larry Wilson for *Beetlejuice*; and not forgetting the cast, which includes Lipnicki who played the kid in *Jerry Maguire and Stuart Little*. The costumes are neat and the photography is wonderful. All the pieces are on hand, but they do not fit, as is the case here.
The challenge here is that the movie is bogged down with too many elements. The vampires, it turns out, wish to turn human, but almost all of them except the father are lactose vegetarians (in case you were wondering). Fine, but now we have the issue of Lord McHatton’s diabolical plans, along with the comical talk about the comet, the beam of light, and the amulet, intermixed with the unwanted intermittent appearances of the exceptionally unfunny vampire hunter, and of course, Tony’s issues in relaying his astonishing discoveries to his parents.
At some points, there’s a spark of humor to indicate what could possibly have worked. The vampire father states, ‘We need darkness, nudity, and decay,’ and Tony, who wishes he were back in Southern California, says, ‘Then you people want our cellar.’ There is a herd of airborne vampire cows that grabbed my attention. And there’s a scene that takes place on top of a colossal blimp which struck just the right James and the Peaching notes. Even so, kids above 12 might find it childish, and those below 12 might find it too mature.
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