No Halloween trickery is involved in this announcement: The Little Vampire is a treat.
Not often does a family film come along that is literate, clever, mischievous and just plain fun. Directed by Uli Edel Christiane F and Last Exit to Brooklyn) and based on the popular Little Vampire novels by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, this delightful juvenile adventure upsets the all-too-familiar autumn applecart in various ways.
First of all, the vampires, though tormented, are sweet. They'd really rather be humans, and rather than sup on their own previous species, they turn to cows, though not for the milk. This preference leads to scenes in which some hefty bovines, having joined the undead, spurn the sunlight of the field and choose the darkness of the barn, where they hang head down from the rafters, much to the bemusement of Farmer Mclaughlin (Jake D'Arcy).
PHOTO COURTESY OF HUACHAN
And what fun it is to hear Anna (Anna Popplewell), a pouty-lipped little vampire, tell Tony Thompson (Jonathan Lipnicki), a nine-year-old human, "If you ever need me, just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you?"
And to hear Anna's brother Rudolph (Rollo Weeks) speak the king's English when he bids Tony goodbye, saying, "I suppose I must take my leave."
Anyway, pleasures of all sorts are to be found in The Little Vampire, which revolves around Tony, uprooted from his home in San Diego to move with his parents to Scotland, where his father is designing a golfing resort for Lord Mcashton (John Wood), whose family has a few secrets. Tony, played with un-self-conscious charm by the actor who portrayed Rene Zellweger's little boy in Jerry Maguire, has been having repeated nightmares about a cliffside vampire ceremony involving a comet, an amulet, an incantation and the untimely intervention of a vampire killer. In the manner of adults, his parents (Pamela Gidley and Tommy Hinkley) are concerned but dismissive. To make Tony's life more difficult, Lord Mcashton's grandsons are bullying him.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HUACHAN
But Tony's dreams are portents of reality, and soon he has encountered and been befriended by Rudolph. And through Rudolph, he meets Rudolph's parents, Frederick and Freda, played with stylish comic spirit by Richard E. Grant and Alice Krige.
With the comet set to reappear, the time is ripe for Frederick to restore his vast clan to human form. But with the vampire killer Rookery (Jim Carter) lurking in the darkness and the amulet still missing after hundreds of years, it will be up to Tony to save the day. Sorry. Save the night.
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