Based on a series of German books created in 1979 by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg about the friendship between a human boy and a vampire boy, The Little Vampire has already appeared as a cute if forgettable live action film in 2000, starring Jonathan Lipnicki.
This German/Danish/Netherlands/UK animated production isn’t as fun as the previous version, as it ploddingly tells the story of how 13-year-old American Tony, on holiday in Europe, meets teen vampire Rudolph and helps him and his family avoid the machinations of vampire hunter Rookery (Carter).
Aside from some neat flying-over-rooftops scenes, there’s not much else that happens here. It’s incredibly slowly paced for a film aimed at kids, and while there are some neat touches – both Jim Carter and Alice Krige return to reprise their roles from the 2000 movie – it never really gets off the ground, and certainly doesn’t do Sommer-Bodenburg’s beloved books justice.
Is The Little Vampire (2018) suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
Young viewers may be upset by Rookery’s continued attempts to exterminate the vampire family. Older viewers will just wonder why he is bothering since they seem pretty harmless.
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