Little Vampire, The

Leave it to the Germans to pick the director of Last Exit to Brooklyn, Uli Edel, to direct a children’s movie. Actually, this entry is a fairly bloodless and toothless adaptation of the Angela Sommer-Bodenburg series of books, styled as if Edel wants to abandon adult themes and become the next Tim Burton for the under-12 set. Little Tony (Jonathan Lipnicki, looking as if he were still dressed for his audition for the Harry Potter movie) is suffering vampire dreams after his family moves to Scotland (perhaps it’s the haggis). Soon he encounters a vampire boy his own age (uh… so to speak) and cross-species bonding ensues as Tony helps his new fiend seek a jewel that will help the little vampire and his family escape their centuries-old curse. But of course, there is always a fearless vampire hunter on hand to complicate matters. Styled like Hammer-Lite, this should keep the adults in attendance moderately amused, but because of its dark themes (yes, there is bloodsucking, of both cows and humans), The Little Vampire may give the young’uns vampire dreams of their own.