It’s sad when a child actor outgrows useful cuteness so young, but Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire) here serves more as prop than actor. Maybe he’ll seek out some drama coaching and mature into a viable thespian one of these days. Meanwhile, in The Little Vampire you get the impression from all his comically oversized clothing that the producers really wanted Haley Joel Osment for the part and went so far as to order wardrobe in Osment’s size, but budgets cuts meant they could afford neither the Sixth Sense star’s newly inflated paycheck nor a tailor for J.L.
Based on a series of children’s books by German author Angela Sommer-Bodenberg, the story of Tony (Lipnicki), an American boy living in Scotland who turns to apparently coeval 300-year vampire child Rudolph (newcomer Rollo Weeks) for friendship, has a few neat ideas. Rudolph’s clan is the victim of an ancient curse, but they can all be turned human again with help from a lost amulet, so Tony undertakes to help. Who could blame him; Rudolph’s stylish undead dad (Richard E. Grant, who coincidentally played vampire slayer Dr. Jack Seward in Coppola’s 1992 Dracula treatment) looks like Bob Geldof, and his sultry mom (Alice Krige, the unbelievably alluring Borg queen in Star Trek: First Contact) could have my jugular on a stick anytime. But the script, by a couple guys who should know better – Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run) and Larry Wilson (The Addams Family) – relies on excessive “dude” and “duh!” and “yessss!” from Lipnicki to carry the day.
In other words, your own offspring will probably love it. Wholly kidsafe, The Little Vampire features nothing more unappetizing than a dead-mouse that serves as a curiously morbid good-luck charm. You might even get a kick out of a subplot about some vampire cows, which lends a loopy Gary Larson vibe to the proceedings. If this does well at the boxoffice, don’t be surprised if little Jonathan turns up again in something like Pre-Teen Wolf. C-
Get your own Free Home Page