| . |
- "The Little Vampire"
(Reviewed October 4, 2000)
- The sad thing about this mediocre mess of a movie is that it could have risen to the level of a classic children's film if the filmmakers had possessed the talent and integrity to play
things straight. The basic plot (lonely American boy transplanted to Scotland befriends sad vampire boy, and tries to help his persecuted vampire clan escape their doom) is offbeat and dark, and could have
been rendered with some real heart and poignancy if it had gotten the "E.T." treatment. Instead, the makers of "The Little Vampire" take the low road by turning the movie into something akin to one of those
painfully stupid Disney made-for-TV movies, full of hammy acting and embarrassing music cues and achingly unfunny sitcomish "humor." (When a cartoonish, stogie-smoking vampire hunter shows up in
a gadget-festooned truck, it's like being slapped in the face and told, "Abandon all hope, folks, because this movie is now officially declared CRAP!")
The real tragedy is that the actor who plays the vampire boy (Rollo Weeks, in what apparently is his first movie role) does not seem to realize that he is in a truly lousy movie. This kid is great. As in, this
kid can actually ACT. His performance has the kind of depth and emotion and genuine credibility that is found nowhere else in the entire production.
Here is the essence of why this movie fails: Anybody can take a hard-to-swallow fantasy premise and make a stupid movie out of it, by giving up and saying, "Hey, it's all dumb stuff anyway, why waste
the effort to make it seem believable?" It takes real genius, though, to make a hard-to-swallow fantasy premise seem real and touching and sincere (think Steven Spielberg's "E.T.").
Rollo Weeks
thought that he was making "E.T.," but everybody else here -- amateurish Hollywood kid Jonathan Lipnicki, the criminally wasted Richard E. Grant, the director, the screenwriter, etc., etc. -- thought they
were making junk. And that really sucks.
Back Row Grade: D (It escapes the dreaded "F" solely because of Rollo Weeks, who shines like gold in this dross.)
(Return to Main Index Page)
|
. |