Story
Little Vampire is 10 years old and immortal. He has been alive for over 300 years, and he’s getting bored. He lives in a haunted house with his mother, Pandora, her undead pirate husband, and an unlikely gang of ghoulishly cute creatures that keep him company. But Little Vampire longs to meet other children and go to school. His mother forbids him from leaving the house, convinced that the Gibbous, a psychotic, moon-faced monster, will find them and kidnap Little Vampire.
Despite his mother’s worries, Little Vampire comes up with a plan to sneak out in the night and visit the local schoolhouse. He writes a note in the schoolbook of a little boy called Michael and, to his delight, Michael responds the very next day. Soon, Little Vampire and Michael become fast friends, and Michael is invited to the haunted house to meet Little Vampire’s strange and ghostly family.
The Gibbous hears about Little Vampire through his network of enslaved spies. The two boys and their team of ghouls must quickly think of a plan to evade and conquer this evil monster before he does them harm.
Themes
Horror; vampires; supernatural; existentialism; death; family; orphans; the power of love; comedy
Violence
Little Vampire has some violence. For example:
- Two boys have a fist fight on the street. One of the boys punches the other and gives him a black eye.
- The Gibbous uses violent and threatening language and cuts and stabs at people with two sharp, pointy swords. He threatens to kill a child’s grandparents.
- Michael is strapped down to a table in the basement of the haunted house as the friendly monster family tries to work out the best way of making him immortal. The monsters brandish chainsaws and knives and say that there’ll need to be some kind of ‘murderfication’. The boy really wants to become immortal, so he’s not bothered, but Little Vampire orders his family to stop because he doesn’t want his friend to get hurt.
Sexual references
Little Vampire has some mild sexual and romantic references. For example:
- Little Vampire’s mother, Pandora, is a voluptuous and glamourous woman. She’s mildly sexualised and wears a figure-hugging dress. There’s some jealous tension between her and another female character (the figurehead of the pirate’s boat) as they vie for the pirate captain’s attention and affections.
- The beast in the deep pit is furious when he doesn’t get to devour Pandora. He screams out, ‘Where is my warm and young flesh?’
- A little girl tells Michael that if a boy wants to impress her, he needs to be brave enough to go inside the haunted house.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Little Vampire has no substance use.
Nudity and sexual activity
Little Vampire has some mild nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- The Gibbous is always naked from the waist up. He has is very skinny.
- There are some mildly romantic scenes between Pandora and the pirate captain, where they hold each other and kiss.
Product placement
There’s no product placement in Little Vampire.
Coarse language
There’s some mild toilet humour in Little Vampire. For example, one of the monsters gives Little Vampire a poo in a jar to take to his new teacher. Little Vampire gives it to a skeleton who’s blind with no sense of smell. The skeleton takes a big bite of the poo.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Little Vampire (Petit Vampire) is a movie adaptation of the popular graphic novel trilogy of the same name, by French-Belgian comic writer, Joann Sfar.
Little Vampire is a delightfully creative and fun caper, especially for children who enjoy a little bit of spookiness and don’t mind a darker twist in their animations. But because of the movie’s dark and spooky themes and scenes, it’s best suited to children aged 8 years and over. We also recommend parental guidance to 10 years because some of the characters are quite scary.
The main message from Little Vampire is that love and compassion can transform even the darkest hearts into good.
Values in Little Vampire that you could reinforce with your children include independence, a sense of adventure, bravery, friendship and loyalty.
Little Vampire could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues such as the following:
- What happens when we take risks and lie to our parents or caregivers?
- Why do parents and caregivers make rules? Is it to keep us safe?
- Being immortal sounds quite glamorous, but how do you think it would feel to be 10 years old forever and never grow up?