I watched this on account of the TV-listings being too vague and featuring a somewhat loose translation(if it does capture the spirit)... yes, until the title card in the opening credits, I expected this to be My Friend Is A Vampire(on account of this being referred to as My Friend, The Vampire), an '88(the year, not the character of the second Dark Forces video-game... and yes, I admit that that was something of a stretch) film which I was ever-so-slightly more interested in. I decided to cut my losses and give this a chance. I have not regretted doing so. Granted, this is a children's film... very much so. A heavy reliance on the notion that all grown-ups are imbeciles and/or morons, material that no one above the age of ten could possibly find funny and writing that at times is utterly stupid and devoid of logic are all featured. The unendurable kid from Jerry Maguire has grown a handful of years older, not that you could tell(seriously, when he's 90, he's still going to look 4), and he's every bit as obnoxious, starring in this. The acting could stand definite improvement, for the most part. There is at least one bit of utterly unnecessary gross-out comedy, near the end, which lasts for minutes(if it isn't evident every second of those). Worst of all, this has a girl of eleven or twelve referencing To Have and Have Not, by delivering something much too close to Bacall's (in)famous line(but hey, maybe the kids won't get it, here's hoping). Check the Parent Guide for other censorship information. But while all that is certainly true, the film is far from unwatchable. The plot isn't too bad, and it develops reasonably well throughout(as well as makes fairly decent sense, for the genre, "family" film). The pacing is pretty spot-on, this moves just about as it's supposed to. The action parts are actually not too poorly done, and the character of Rookery is not without his cool moments. Some of the humor is downright funny, though it is mostly silly. The special effects vary, but tend to be on the positive side(and hey, it *is* an independent film). Richard E. Grant isn't bad at all. 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. I recommend this to, well, anyone. 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. 6/10
