Dear Dracula

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"Dear Dracula" is a 42-minute animated short film from 3 years ago. Director Chad Van De Keere and writer Brad Birch have worked on several television shows already before making this one. And the experience shows as they came up with a pretty nice little special here. The animation is fine, the story is good as well about Dracula helping a boy with his confidence while overcoming some own issues about the way people perceive vampires in the modern world. The fake teeth kid who turns into a chicken was pretty hilarious. Some pretty famous names are included in the voice cast here too, such as Ray Liotta from "Goodfellas", Ariel Winter from "Modern Family" and Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen's brother, from "The Breakfast Club". I would not say that this little movie is truly memorable or has some greatness to it, but it does not have to either. After all, it's not a Pixar theatric release, but a television special by fairly unknown people and company. I recommend the watch. It's also not scary, so good watch for young audiences as well. Thumbs up.

This is an hour long Halloween cartoon for kids, perhaps 4-9 age group. Sam (Nathan Gamble) lives with his grandmother. He writes Dracula (Ray Liotta) who in turn visits Sam on Halloween. Sam helps Dracula get his scare back while Dracula helps Sam with his shyness involving Emma (Ariel Winter). Sam has a pet spider named Webber which makes him an outcast to his peers which include the stereo typical shallow cheerleaders. Very boring production for parents and older kids. The jokes lines are old. Film is of course critical of "Twilight" as that has become the fad. I would go watch "Monsters and Aliens" instead.

I'm a little disappointed it wasn't better but overall it wasn't too bad. There was no real substance and it felt like an extremely basic Saturday morning cartoon instead. It's probably something I would watch around Halloween time to get into the spirit but I wouldn't necessarily say it was a movie. It's a nice idea but everything else was working against it. The animation was severely lacking and felt cheap. I also found it to be a little bit boring as they didn't really take the story anywhere. I could probably tolerate it again for Halloween but I really wouldn't recommend it.

Dracula is frustrated and worried that most people don't find him scary any more. His obsequious helper Myro tries to convince him otherwise. Regardless, Dracula is still much in doubt. Shortly, he receives a letter from a boy in America stating that he's Dracula's biggest fan; the only fan mail he's ever received. Now if you have thousands or millions of fans you can afford to ignore them. But if you have only "1" --what do you do? You pack your coffin and head for America, of course. Dracula arrives in the States and at his only fan's house with his coffin on top of a taxi. The boy's grandmother thinks he's a salesman of some sort and gives him grief at the door. Dracula puts the whammy on her ("Look into my eyes".....You know the deal) and thus convinces her to let him in. Needless to say, the boy --"Sam"-- is ecstatic that his hero has come to visit him. They watch some videos together and Dracula expresses his contempt and distaste for the scary figures of today. Later, he and Sam come to an agreement wherein Sam would help him to get his scare back and he would help Sam to have confidence in himself and be more outgoing since, as it happens, Sam is an outcast and the butt of jokes with most of the other kids who thinks he's "creepy" (He's got a pet tarantula named "Webber"). The only thing this cartoon is going to do for most adults, I think, is make them crack a smile in a few places (Unless they have no child in them or no sense of humor). I recommend and think this cartoon is for children, 5 thru 8. That is to say, this is the age range I think that would best appreciate it. MY RATING ABOVE ASSUMES I'M A KID WITHIN THIS RANGE. Now if I were rating it for it's ability to entertain older folks I would give it ONLY 2-3 stars. This cartoon, I think, would fit nicely into a Saturday morning line-up or an after-school special for kids that teaches them self-confidence and not to be afraid to be themselves. I actually watched this thing twice, possibly to give it a second hearing, so to speak, and it seemed even sillier (and therefore more enjoyable) the second time. The kid in me plastered a stupid grin on my face throughout much of it. Love, Boloxxxi.