KIDS love scary stories, especially around Halloween, but there are very few fright flicks being made these days that can be recommended for them without huge reservations. This, happily, is one of them.
Based on a popular series of children’s novels by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, the beguiling “The Little Vampire” follows the adventures of Tony (Jonathan Lipnicki), a 9-year-old American living in Scotland, where his father is constructing a championship golf course.
Tony dreams about vampires, draws them and talks about them in class, much to the annoyance of his teacher and the classmates who pick on him daily.
One evening, the lonely Tony is visited by a large bat who turns into Rudolph (Rollo Weeks), a grave young vampire who takes Tony flying above the countryside and becomes his friend.
Rudolph eventually enlists the American’s help in his quest. He’s been 9 years old for the last 300 years, he complains. He and his family want to leave the undead and return to the world of the living, where Rudolph can grow up.
To accomplish this, the boys have to find a magic amulet before a comet passes behind the moon. They also must elude a comic vampire hunter (Jim Carter) determined to drive stakes through their hearts, not to mention their suspicious parents.
A plot that may seem complicated to the non-“Harry Potter” set (the screenplay is attributed to Karey Kirkpatrick and Larry Wilson, who between them collaborated on “Chicken Run” and “Beetlejuice”) is negotiated with more than enough laughs, thrills and chills to delight pre-adolescents.
Uli Edel (“Last Exit to Brooklyn”) directs with an agreeably light touch and a genuine respect for parents who don’t want to take their kids to a movie that will keep them awake at night.
Though a scene where Tony is trapped in a sarcophagus might be a bit much for more sensitive pre-schoolers, there’s no realistic violence or bloodshed here. These vampires, who are presented as innocent victims of human persecution, almost exclusively limit their consumption to blood from animals.
The mostly British supporting cast – including Richard E. Grant and Alice Krige as Rudolph’s aristocratic parents and Anna Popplewell as his sister, who develops a crush on Tony – is excellently chosen.
The bespectacled Lipnicki, the young star of “Jerry Maguire” and “Stuart Little,” again shines here, and newcomer Weeks is the perfect foil as his undead pal, who has a hard time getting used to being addressed as “dude.”
With plentiful allusions to “E.T.” and “Peter Pan,” as well as flying cows and a prominently featured blimp, “The Little Vampire” is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for the whole family.
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THE LITTLE VAMPIRE
An American boy in Scotland helps a young vampire; laughs, thrills and chills for the whole family. Running time: 95 minutes. Rated PG (mildly scary scenes). At the Empire, the Union Square, the Battery Park City, others.