The Little Vampire
Tags: horror, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Tony Thompson [Jonathon Lipnicki] is lonely and friendless. His parents, Bob and Dottie,
have just moved him from San Diego, California to Scotland, and the two
McAshton boys, Nigel [Iain De Caestecker] and Flint [Scott Fletcher], are making fun of him at his new school
because of his obsession with vampires. Unfortunately, Nigel and Flint are
the grandsons of Lord McAshton, Bob's boss.One night, a bat flies into Tony's room. The bat is Rudolph Sackville-Bagg
[Rollo Weeks], vampire, and he's in a bad way. He can't fly, and the
vampire hunter Rookery [Jim Carter] is looking for him. Rudolph desperately needs blood
and asks Tony to lead him to a cow. While Tony waits for Rudolph to finish
his dinner, Rookery attempts to run Tony over with his vampire-hunting
mobile, but Rudolph saves him just in time. Tony and Rudolph are now
tit-for-tat, each having saved the other. They decide to become friends.
Rudolph sleeps the next day in Tony's toybox but is gone when Tony
gets home from school. Rudolph shows up again that night, asking about a
picture Tony drew of an amulet he saw in a dream, the amulet of Attamon,
made by the Great Magician from a piece of the comet of Attamon. Tony
offers to help Rudolph find it because it could mean the end of a curse
that causes Rudolph and his family to remain vampires. Unfortunately,
Rookery is also seeking the amulet because, used in another way, it can
send all the vampires straight to hell.
Suddenly, Rudolph's family shows up...father Frederick, mother Freda,
sister Anna, and brother Gregory. Frederick is not happy that his son has
befriended a human. Just then, Rookery shows up and starts firing stakes
at the vampire family. Tony cuts the hose between Rookery's stakegun and
his pneumatic air supply. The vampires and Tony take refuge in an
underground crypt, and Tony has a vision in which he sees a woman covering
the body of the Great Magician with a blanket bearing a crest flanked by
two stags and a banner reading "Sola animo at manuforti."Later that night, Tony and Rudolph pay a visit to the McAshton boys.
Tony presents himself as the Lord of the Underworld and Rudolph as "the
fiendish friend of Tony Thompson," and orders the boys to treat Tony with
respect or else they will be bat-bait. The next day at school, the
McAshton boys trip all over themselves to be nice to Tony. It appears that
Tony's problems with the McAshton boys are over.
However, his problems with the McAshtons are just beginning. That
afternoon at tea, Tony's dad shows him a picture of the McAshton crest. Lo
and behold, it is the one from Tony's vision. Later that evening, Tony
goes to the crypt to tell Rudolph of his discovery, only to find Rookery
there. Rookery lowers a bright light into the crypt, but Tony throws a
rock at it and breaks the bulb. Unfortunately, Rudolph's father takes the
full brunt of the light and is severely weakened. After fortifying their
dad on some cowblood, the vampire family moves into Tony's cellar in order
to hide from Rookery. During the night, as Tony tries to sleep, Anna [Anna Popplewell] comes
into his room. She gives him a good luck charm (a dead mouse) from the old
country and tells him to whistle if he should ever need her help.It's Saturday morning, and Tony goes to work with his dad, hoping to
learn more about the McAshton crest and the whereabouts of the amulet.
Unfortunately, Rookery is also there, and Lord McAshton is telling him
about the family history. It seems that the woman in Tony's vision, the
one in which he sees her covering the body of the Great Magician with a
blanket that bears the McAshton crest, was actually Lord McAshton's
ancestor, Elizabeth, and the Great Magician was the vampire Von
Sackville-Bagg. Even more important is the fact that Elizabeth is wearing
the amulet of Attamon in a family portrait and was probably buried with
it. Rookery asks where she is buried, so Lord McAshton takes him to the
family crypt. They open her coffin, but it is empty. Most likely, she was
buried elsewhere, but where?Tony, who has been watching from a balcony, suddenly falls
off...right into the coffin. Rookery, who has also been after Tony, closes
the lid. Tony can't get out, but he remembers his good luck mouse and
whistles for Anna. Although it is daylight, Rudolph and Anna cover
themselves with a blanket and helmets and go to Tony. A mouse leads the
three of them to a secret passage in which they find the real coffin of
Elizabeth McAshton and Von Sackville-Bagg, but the amulet isn't there.
Suddenly, Tony has another vision of Elizabeth burying the stone under the
floorboards of her room...which is now Tony's room.
Rudolph and Tony go to Tony's bedroom and start prying up the
floorboards, but Rookery is wise to them. When Tony refuses to hand over
the stone, Rookery takes Tony, stone and all, for a ride in his
vampiremobile. As they drive along, they are attacked by a herd of flying
vampire cows (the cows on which Rudolph and his family have been feeding)
who cover Rookery's windshield with cowpies.Meanwhile, Frederick and Freda realize that tonight is the night that
the Attamon comet will cross the moon, and all the vampires must be called
to unite on the cliffs. Frederick is still too weak to fly, so they
introduce themselves to Tony's parents and invite them to view the comet,
too, using their car to drive out there. The entire vampire clan is
gathered on the cliff, but where is the amulet?
At the last minute, Rudolph and Tony fly in. Tony gives the amulet to
Frederick who says the magic words. A red light descends from the comet, a
red fog creeps over the vampires, and they all disappear.Epilogue: It is some weeks later. Tony and his parents are at the market in
town when a new family moves in. It is the Sackville-Baggs, but they are
human now. At first they don't recognize Tony, but a little whistle from
Tony brings back their memories. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Review: Witty, well-acted kids flick that parents will enjoy as well..
A very winning cast, great location, superb kids' story to work with, good production make for some campy scariness for kids with entertainment for mom and dad as well.
Charming little movie that appeals to the kid in all of us.The predicament of the cows really did make me laugh out loud.
His charming powers over Mrs. Thompson were hysterical, and the entire cast did very well with this movie.One for the kids that mom and dad will enjoy sitting through, which is a rarity anymore, except for the likes of Shrek.Oh, and I can't omit Rollo Weeks, as The Little Vampire himself.
As well as the role for arguably the cutest kid in movies, Jonathan Lipnicki, as Tony Thompson.
There was just great acting all around in The Little Vampire.A job well done by all involved.
I'd like to see more of Weeks on screen, but don't know if that's feasible as he's a British kid actor.Don't expect a deep message - it's not there.
When I first saw the movie, I thought it was the cutest thing.
I'm 17 years old and I'm not ashamed to say that I really like this movie.
It had a cool plot that made it not so much of a kid movie.
Movies like this, allows you to sit back and forget about the stress of everyday and you can let the little kid inside you take over full of imagination and amazement.
A fantastic film with great costumes and fab special effects.
The little vampire is a thrilling story as a book and it makes a magical film.
Any child who didn't enjoy this film should watch a little more closely.
wow, This has to be the best kick back and enjoyed movie I have seen in a long long time.
Being a 66 year old (tough Guy), I find most kids movies not to my liking.
So people for sure rent it and if you have babies, buy it so when they are a little older they will be able to enjoy watching it as we did..
Just a few words that come to mind when describing The Little Vampire.
The costumes: Simply exquisite....they looked excellent.....nice Halloween costumes?!?!?!Rollo Weeks, in his break through film Debut, gives and exception performance as Rudolph, the Little Vampire...He is a clever, young boy with excellent acting skills.Lipnicki, of course is too cute, and shines and Tony the young boy with a heart for Vampires.
The Scenery in this film actually steals the show...Beautiful landscapes, rolling hills, lush greens.....breath-taking...As an adult, I found this film funny, dramatic, and a good time for the whole family....8 out of 10.
The little vampire is not a serious film and you do have to accept that when you're watching it.
The Little Vampire is my favorite movie!
Jonathan Lipnicki played a great little Tony; Rollo Weeks, Anna Popplewell,  Dean Cook, Richard E.
Grant, and Alice Krige did very well as vampires and looked great in their costumes.
The Little Vampire is a delightful film about a little boy from America, Tony, who is teased and picked on at his new school in Scotland by the local laird's obnoxiously arrogant grandsons.
He meets and befriends Rudolph, the youngest son of a family of charming vampires, who are trying to save themselves from Rookery, a vicious and unscrupulous vampire killer.
Both my sons, ages 11 and 6, just loved the movie -- enough that my six year old wanted to see it again, and I didn't mind taking him.
All in all, I would recommend it highly (to anyone who doesn't have trouble with the notion that vampires are not minions of Satan) as good, clean, amusing fun..
A movie young kids will fall in love with....a funny tale portraying that vampires are your friends.
The Little Vampire is a cute family movie that kids will want to watch again and again.
One night, while his parents are at a business party, a little 9yr old vampire named Rudolph spots Tony with fake fangs in his mouth.
Tony then finds out that his dreams are real and decides to help his friend look for the amulet...Although this movie is too "cute" for teens and "boring" for adults, The Little Vampire will put a smile on kids from the age 5-11.
Stewart Little kid Jonathan Lipnicki adds the perfect touch to any kids movie, while Rollo Weeks (The Thief Lord) gets his start before making many more movies within the years that have past.
The Little Vampire is a great movie the whole family can enjoy!.
A lovely movie for children.
I'm a sucker for movies that remind me of my younger years, and this is definitely one of them (well, seeing as it's made for kids, that's hardly surprising).
The plot was good, the bad guy wasn't scary enough to give younger kids nightmares, but unlikable enough for the slightly older children not the care that he ISN'T too frightening.
Wonderful costumes too.Did anyone notice the last name of the Vampires?
enjoyable gothic kids movie.
Looking back now I wonder how much influence the 80's Little Vampire series had on me.
I might be well over the 'suggested' age group for this movie but I couldn't wait to see it at the cinema and I wasn't disappointed at all!The Little Vampire is funny, with a great plot and well acted.
I am just about to order my DVD copy of the Little Vampire tonight to join my collection of other vampire movies - Interview with the Vampire, Lost Boys, Dracula etc!.
Some of the best fantasy films come from the 80s and featured bad acting, horrible continuity, and rather icky special effects and cinamatography as a whole."The Little Vampire" which stars mostly Jonathan Lipnicki, but also his little fanged friend Rollo Weeks, looks 10-20 years old but it actually a new release by New Line Cinema.
And while for many this sounds like the ultimate rip of the dark children's fantasy based on some pretty famous books (at least in Europe), in actuality I think it's this that gives the film class.
I cringe every time Jonathan's character says "dude" and cringe harder when Rollo lays out the vampric lore dribble on why they don't bite humans.
(They dine on cows.) But it becomes harder and harder to dislike someone so charming as either boy as the chase for the medallion continues.The medallion is most of the time gaurded by Rookery who may be one of the most complete characters in the film.
From the moment one sees his vampire hunting contraption looking like something from either "Mad Max" or "Tremors," those who are not children in the audience know this isn't going to be your typical kid's flick.
A tricky thing a dark movie appropriate for children is.
I could wear it next Halloween, and my friend could wear Rudolph's (Rollo Week's) outfit.
top under 10's movie, great story at a childs level.
my son has loved this movie from aged 3 till 7 and he still loves to watch it.
Top family movie that even Im not tired of watching.
AND my teenage kids like it too although they wont watch it more than once a month!!.
What I thought about The Little Vampire.
I think that this was the best action, drama, mystery, and horror movie that I have ever seen.
I especially liked the part where Jonathan Lipnicki says, "I'm Rudolph's best friend and he gave me a bite-proof guarantee."  I don't know why, I just do.
I think that this is a good movie for everyone who has an imagination or who likes mythical things like vampires.
As a child I was a great fan of both the original Little Vampire book and the (badly dubbed) 1983 German television series, so I was very keen to see how this movie turned out.
Sadly, this English-language version of the story has ditched the dark humour and wild fantasy of previous incarnations in favour of a more bland, Disneyesque reworking.The charm of the original lay in the development of the relationship between the little vampire and the mortal boy.
In this film, they meet and  become instant best friends, and then some tedious plot involving a passing comet takes over the storyline.
Likewise, Rüdiger's family (or Rudolph, in this version) would be more interesting if they didn't accept his human pal almost instantly.So, if we ignore the fact it is a poor adaptation, how does the movie stand by itself?
It is fairly good fun, but its linear plot, simplistic characters and acting from little Jonathan Lipnicki make it unsuitable fodder for adults.
Kids will probably enjoy it, but it won't become an obsession.That said, much respect to the herd of flying vampire cows..
I never really thought much of this movie until I watched it 3 weeks ago, now I watch it every day.
Rollo stole my heart with the little things he said and did.
Very good little movie for children.
A really nice movie for kids with a good plot.
Or even worse, why does the hunter in one scene try to kill a boy which is obviously not a vampire ?But the movie is really well made and worth your precious time, if you want to be entertained..
I've loved all things concerning vampires since the first time I saw The Lost Boys.
(Obviously not an Oscar-worthy film, but it certainly is entertaining.)  When I saw previews for The Little Vampire, I must admit that I thought it looked really, really bad.
The story and plot weren't all that original and were very predictable, but I think kids from 6 to 12 would enjoy those aspects of the film.
I thought Rollo Weeks and the actress who played his sister, Anna, were terrific and I hope to see them both in more films.
Jonathan Lipnicki was cute, but is that kid ever going to grow?
I liked most of the adult characters, especially the vampire parents.
Grant and Alice Krige both in other movies and I enjoyed their performances.
It's fun to watch and only a little bit too cutesy..
I was surprised at how much I liked The Little Vampire.
Some of the special effects are a little ropey, while I liked the story in general there may be those who may find the idea of having an American hero in a film set in Scotland a little contrived and I think it could have been a tad longer.
People may find it rather bleak, but I liked the bleakness, I think it suited the film very well.
Jonathan Lipnicki is really cute, Rollo Weeks is charming and bright, Richard E.
Another thing, The Little Vampire is a rare film that doesn't patronise its audience.
Overall, very enjoyable, while not being the best movie I have ever seen.
I have watched this movie 5 times and I love it!
The jokes were gigley and i love the vampire cows!
Dean Cook won my heart, he was amazing, with the lack of "leading parts" and Richard E Grant was great as usual!.
The Little Vampire is a cute, unique movie with totally different views on vampires.
And, while they're at it, ones who were presumably bitten when they were younger because in most vampire movies they were bitten when they are 19+ and I'm not supposed to be scoping out guys that much older than me ;).
I recognized Jonathan Lipnicki from Stuart Little (another childhood favorite).
I watch this movie every Halloween and a few times a year.
i actually really enjoyed this it was pretty well made had awesome acting and the plot was really neat and it had stylish direction and some good visuals although not really a horror movie and mostly for kids i found this to be a entertaining little flick so rent it *** out of 5.
In other words, unless you are dreadfully immature and childish for your age, or are out to watch every single vampire movie out there, do not watch this one past 12, it will not do..
Well, I hate being the only one with dissenting opinions, but nobody who enjoys films and the art of filmmaking will enjoy this movie.This is the typical Disney-esque, "Transplanted boy befriends X and X helps the boy learn to accept his new environment and gets him out of trouble." X can be a dog (Lassie) X can be a Ghost ("Little Ghost" - search on it) and X can be just about anything.Nothing is unique about the story, even if it is based upon a novel for children.
It is cliche, badly produced and overall a disgrace to the world of cinema.If your children still believe movies are "real" - it has a chance.
If you take this film as a family comedy, it is exeptable and works, a little.
The plot takes a kid and his family from San Diego to Scotland and the kid (played by Jonathan Lipnicki) starts to dream of vampires.
Then, he meets them and befriends one of them and gets mixed up to get them turned into humans and to evade the evil vampire killer Rookery (Jim Carter).
Kids will find this film funny, adults might even have a very slight liking to it, and I didn't hate it.
But I did have 2 problems with it as a vampire film in general- 1, why would anyone think that Scotland looks like this.
For a change a kids movie this adult didn't mind paying to see..
After a week of nagging and cajoling I managed to persuade one of my sons to accompany me to The Little Vampire.
Richard E Grant plays the patriarch of the vampire family - in turns menacing, protective and nurturing.
The other performance I enjoyed was the vampire son Rudolph (Rollo Weeks), an actor I hope we'll be seeing more of him in the future.My main crit is the vampires costumes (which looked splendid) the American couple dated them Shakespearian, which looked correct, but as the boy's age is 309 this calculates his birth era  at around 1700 nearly 100 years later!!
I know it a children's film but!
The plot is childish fun, the performances are good, the special effects were well done, and everyone seemed to laugh in the right places.
Sometimes the way a film is structured, the story is so automatic, so determined that all you can do is watch the actors.
The nature of the enterprise here (vampires, kids) references stories outside the movie, so this character- by-reference idea is natural.Pamela Gidley is the human mom.
Check the shape of the hairline to see that yes, this is Derek Jarman's Elizabeth turned from counterculture punk to vampire queen.Richard Grant was (and will always be) Withnail, and is also burned in my mind as interloper of the most outrageous orrery in film in "Hudson Hawk."And hey, here's Anna Popplewell as the preteen love interest.
Good movie.
I though the movie was good and younger cousins enjoyed it they thought it was very good.
I like the storyline and actors and pretty good so are the costumes I would recommend this to any child as they seem to like it.
I myself not being a big fan of vampires didn't think the film was amazing but like it said its quite good to watch once in a while.
What happens it Tony a little boy who has dreams about vampires and stuff one night when his parents are out a vampire flies through his window thinking that he is a vampire because he was acting like one and he asks him for help.
Granted, this is a children's film...
The plot isn't too bad, and it develops reasonably well throughout(as well as makes fairly decent sense, for the genre, "family" film).
This really *could* be watched by just about anyone, and there is even a possibility that some of the generations/age groups may find themselves enjoying some of the same things in it.
There are many better films out there, and quite possibly better ones to watch with kids/parents, but you could certainly also do considerably worse.
this has to be the best Halloween movie i've ever seen.
maybe even the best movie i've ever seen.
Rollo weeks is an excellent actor and of course the actor who played tony is cute, adorable and an amazing actor.
in the movie it didn't get to the point to fast or too slow it had the right amount of time to say what it needed to say.i really liked the friendship between Rudolph and tony.
watch it!i wish i was a vampire-or at least knew one-i actually wish i knew Rudolph!.
The Little Vampire (2000): Dir: Uli Edel / Cast: Jonathan Lipnicki, Alice Krige, Richard E.
Grant, Rollo Weeks, Anna Popplewell: Is this junk actually fit for children?
Vampires are not a subject for kids films.
A family moves to England where a boy befriends a vampire.
Rollo Weeks plays Lipnicki's new fanged friend.
The Little Vampire.
The Little Vampire.
I saw a trailer for this family horror fantasy adventure and thought it looked like a fun film to try, so I did.
Basically little Tony Thompson (Jonathan Lipnicki) is having constant nightmares about vampires, and he is also wanting to find a friend, and what he gets is a real young vampire Rudolph Sackville-Bagg (introducing Rollo Weeks).
Grant), mother Freda (Star Trek: First Contact's Alice Krige), sister Anna (Anna Popplewell) and brother Gregory (Dean Cook) are needing to find a magical stone to free them the curse of being a vampire, and drinking cow's blood.
Of course it comes to the night of the Attamon comet crossing the moon, and after a few distractions the vampires are freed of their curse, and the film ends with Tony being able to be human friends with Rudolph and family.