Powerful

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I really enjoyed this movie, they don't make enough movies like this. I love all the characters and actors, I loved the story line and wish there was another movie to watch. It's interesting and thrilling without being scary which is nice for a change. All the different ways this movie could go opens it up for a world of awesome. Lol I vote for another!

I was so excited to finally be able to watch the movie after reading all the cirque books. I have to say it did disappoint me not because it wasn't a good movie, but because i felt the book was so different. The movie felt rushed. I feel if you want to make a movie based of the books (like Harry Potter) take the time and not rush it. Its one of the best series of books I've read in a long time.last, John C.Reily was a great Crepsley.

I found this movie pretty much by accident when flicking through the Netflix catalogue. I thought what the heck and started to watch it. My hopes were really not that high. Actually I am not sure I had any hopes at all since I just stumbled on the movie and started to watch it on a whim. What I found was a rather okay and fun movie actually.The movie is apparently based on popular book series Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan. Unfortunately, in their usual arrogant manner, the Hollywood moguls decided to rip the books apart and mash together book one and two in this movie. It appears the general consensus is, not surprisingly, that the books are better than the movie. Nevertheless, the movie was good enough that I most probably will have a go at reading at least one of the books in the series.The movie itself then? Actually I liked it more than I expected. It took a little while before it got started but once it got going it was a good teenage magical fantasy adventure. I am actually a bit saddened that it appears there was never any sequels using the other books in the series.The name Cirque du Freak is well chosen. This is not the usual bunch of people with magical abilities or fangs or some of the other attributes you usually see in magic or supernatural movies. The members of the Cirque are freaks in every sense of the word. I do not think I have seen such a bunch of weird and bizarre creatures before. Heck, the vampire that takes Darrel as his assistant is probably the most normal of the bunch.The story is quite okay and the acting acceptable. The vampire, Creepsly, felt a bit underwhelming at first but he grew on me. So did Mr. Tiny who I definitely didn't like at first but found doing quite a good job of playing the evil mastermind towards the end. His sleaziness was downright creepy.I am sure a lot of the story and character development from the books were left out because there is so much more that could have been done with the story. Darrel befriending the snake man, the brewing romance, Darrels relation with Creapsley and all the other interactions and characters that took place. If the producer had wanted to do a good job he could easily have added another 40 minutes to the movie. A shame he did not.Bottom line, watching this movie was a pleasant experience. It is perhaps not a blockbuster but a nice little adventure, magic, supernatural and fantasy gem.

"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" is an...Interesting film. On it's own, it's actually pretty damn good. The acting, script, characters, musical score and atmosphere are all quite decent, unexpectedly so. If I hadn't read the books, this would easily get an 8 out of 10. At the same time, as an adaptation, it's an awful, AWFUL betrayal of the source material. Still, even if it IS a failed adaptation, it's still a good movie all things considered. I'd gladly take a decent movie that doesn't work as an adaptation over Young Adult Adaptation Garbage like "The Hunger Games" (Crap), "Eragon" (Even worse), "Alex Rider" (Insulting garbage) or "Percy Jackson" (One of the worst movies of all time) So, why do I have such mixed feelings on the film? Let's take a look.The character development is something of a mixed bag. Don't get me wrong, Darren Shan develops, changes and becomes a lot more mature and likable from the beginning of the movie to the end, his characters was relatable and likable and his arc was fairly interesting. The problem is that the film shoves so much development of Darren's character in such a short amount of time than you can't help but feel like it's an arc that should have spanned multiple movies. The same goes for Steve Leonard. He's a well developed and surprisingly intimidating villain, but the screenwriter squeezes that arc into such a small period of time that his story is not as compelling or emotionally investing as it should be. Hell, even Darren's Vampire Master Larten Crepsley has this same bittersweet development; where his arc is handled well and he changes in a realistic way over the course of the movie, but it feels like something that should have spanned multiple films instead of one.The story shares this problem too. There are a TON of plot and story elements contained in this movie, some handled well (Darren turning into a vampire and sacrificing his human life to save his best friend Steve from Crepsley's wrath) and others not so well (An INCREDIBLY forced romance between Darren and a Cirque member called "The Monkey Girl" because of her tail, made worse due to the fact Darren's romance with a character named Debbie in the books, who has nothing in common with The Monkey Girl, was 10x better and had WAY more chemistry) Again, the film makes the error of cramming too much stuff into a mere 109 minutes. It seems like the screenwriter was so afraid of the film never receiving any sequels that he tried to combine the plot elements of multiple books in the series together in the desperate hope of the audience getting the full Darren Shan experience.That said, there is plenty to like. All of the actors do a great job in their respective roles. Chris Massoglia did a fantastic job as Darren Shan. His naivety, awkwardness and innocence fit the character of Darren Shan perfectly, Massoglia oozes likability and dorky charm in this role. He can even be surprisingly emotional in a few scenes, like when he realizes the danger he poses to his own family once he's become a vampire. It's actually a very tragic scene, it's done so well it makes you wish the whole movie was this good. John C. Reilly as Larten Crepsley originally seemed a VERY odd casting choice, but he does a surprisingly convincing job in the role of Darren's master and mentor. He manages to make Crepsley tough, cold and often overly critical, but he's still well intentioned and does care about other people's well being.With that being said, the best performance of the bunch has got to be, no question about it, Josh Hutcherson as Steve Leonard. Hutcherson's Leonard is ruthless, merciless and intimidating as all Hell. You can just feel the hate and anger radiate off the screen from his character. While the film is merely good, and a failure of an adaptation, I really do think Hutcherson as Leonard is one of the best castings for an adaptation I have ever seen. He completely steals the show.While there are plenty of insulting things to be found in the movie to fans of the book, like the vampaneze coming off as more laughable than frightening or that GOD AWFUL CHEMISTRY DEVOID ROMANCE between The Monkey Girl (Seriously, how do you confuse a personality devoid white girl with a monkey tail working at a circus with a strong, intelligent black girl coming from a rich family?) and Darren, the film does manage to at least capture the atmosphere of the books perfectly. The sets, the costumes, the lighting, the musical score, they all do a fantastic job of capturing the Gothic, macabre feeling of the books and sucking you into the world of the movie. If anything, this LOOKS just like a "Cirque du Freak" film SHOULD look.Also, unlike adaptations like "Percy Jackson", the film's humor is actually really, really effective. It's dark, it's clever, it's unexpected, and best of all, it never feels out of place. There are some genuinely funny scenes and characters in this movie, and the film manages to make them work without sacrificing it's macabre tone.My advice would be to read the books and skip the movie entirely. But if you really, really hate reading, and just wanna see a creative, atmosphere filled, well acted vampire movie, then I guess check the film out at least on a rent. It's far better than most Young Adult Adaptations and kicks the crap out of "Percy Jackson" any day of the shark week.