Overall very enjoyable movie. The pacing was a LITTLE too fast, and some of the dialogue was just corny, but I liked it more than I thought I would.

Movie was too mixed up... Didn't go along with the books.. Where in the world did Monkey girl come in? Very disappointing.. Love the books! Movie, not so much!

I can't understand why critics dislike this movie. It was funny, the action scenes were strong and the plot wasn't really that weak.

Although it had some infuriating aspects, such as Rebecca and Darren's family, I still enjoyed it considerably.

While repeating his parents' warning against having a friend like Steve(Josh Hutcherson), a bad influence by their own estimation, "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" makes an allusion to bohemianism, the rejection of ISAs(ideological state apparatuses), in which "college, job, [and], family", the goals that all people are programmed to aspire towards, don't seem to be Darren's goals, as the boy satirizes his father's mantra of mass conformity. This satirical moment loses its bite, however, since Darren(Chris Massoglia) has no choice in the matter, the matter of secession from the living, when he agrees to the conditions of the pact he makes with Crepsley(John C. Reilly), who turns the boy into a vampire; his compensation for saving Steve's life. It's Steve, not Darren, who's transfixed by vampire iconography, so when this sheltered boy rebels against the dad, he's actually expressing his friend's reservations about societal norms. Since "The Vampire's Assistant" is fitted with the calibration of a light comedy, Fred seems neither happy nor particularly sad about being dead. The film lacks a corresponding scene that directly addresses the boy's burlesquing of his father. Was he, or was he not, an anarchist(or a nihilist) in the making? The film, instead, occupies itself with the ongoing schism between the two factions of vampires, and gives short-shrift to the schism within Fred's half-human/half-vampire self. But if these pacifist breed of vampires have no murderous intent, where's the drama in losing your humanity, since your inhumane side, is humane?… Expand

This movie was the (guy version) of Twilight. It may not be one of the best movies but it was entertaining with some comedy that helped a lot, but overall I thought it was decent.

The movie is quirky and definitely one of a kind. Different from its other vampire predecessors, its humorous and less glamorous. The cast is colorful and intriguing. I really hope they make sequels.

Well I must say first off that I do not read very much or keep track of what books have been published and so maybe it was a good thing for the sake of this movie. I liked it quite a lot. I go to the movies for entertainment and nothing more and I found this movie very enjoyable. I thought the acting was well done and the story line was most certainly beyond good not excellent mind you but at the very least good.… Expand

It was okay. It didn't put me to sleep like Twilight's story. I got all the action needed. The books are still better. Many changes but Darren and Steve fighting was entertaining.

8* Good film if you haven't read the books, but thoroughly disappointing if you have read them, it''s nothing alike.

This movie was funny and had action and had a little love story. a great mix of interesting ideas and was a very unique movie. it captured my attention and i loved it. i wish metacritic didn't screw this score up and cause so many people to not go to it. now there may not be a sequel because it didn't make enough profits. thanks!

Really enjoyed this movie. The characters were great, very entertaining. The special effects and action were good. It makes you want to see what happens next. I look forward to the sequel.

I read the book's when I was younger. This film truely let me down. The Darren Shan books are from what I remember a very dark comedy. This is not.

I loved it, it was like Moulin rouge meets twilight! Awesome.

Right from the getgo I wondered, did they actually say this was a battle between vampires and vampaneze? The vampaneze? You could call this a brilliant innovation or you could call it: total crap! It’s just plain stupid. Yeah, vampires are all the craze right now but this movie is just a mess. It’s not scary, it’s not creepy, it’s not ‘with it’, it’s not cool, it’s not hip, but it is totally, totally stupid and inept. Additionally, nothing is resolved as this is only part I. what a total freaking ripoff!!… Expand

I was blown away while watching those who went forth in the movie: John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Salma Hayek, ... but I run into absurd movie, albeit with some entertainment, in a scene. Ridiculous and very freak. Paul Weitz is pointed at the vampire world that is becoming popular because of the garbage that "Twilight", and not only that if it goes beyond that, dares to fool the public with an expired theater tricks. Not worth it.… Expand

i thought that the actors suited their characters really well. I love any film to do with vampires so this one got a thumbs up. I've read the first book and i thought that it was brilliant, after reading it and then seeing the film, the book is definately better. But, my advice is see the film!! It's good!

Yes i have read the books, and they were amazing. All of them in the series is pure gold and genius. After i read all the books over as many times as i could that year, i heard they were making a film. Now do not get me wrong, i thought the movie looked interesting to see. I wanted to see how the director would film this movie. I saw it and i have to say this: The books were better for obvious reasons. But the movie was not half bad. Sure, it got so much wrong in the movie that it did not even have to be based off the movie, it could have been a movie all in its own it was that off. But it was interesting. John C. Reilly did a marvelous job although i would not have chose him for the role. And of course there was room for a sequel. So i will go see the sequel. Everyone should go see this film, even if you do not like the actors, vampires, or anything along those lines. I am not asking you to love it or even like it, i am just asking for you to give it a try.… Expand

One of the worst movies ever made. Waste of money!

For those that say that the sub plots go no place you are wrong they just have not come in to play just yet. there is more to the story then what you see. the movie is not the books but it still uses the same plot. there is more to come...a lot more.

Sep 17, 2010 Lex 4 Visiting a traveling freak show, 16 year-old, Darren is turned into a vampire. Half-vampire, half-human he joins the Cirque du Freak and descends into a fantastic life with a sideshow of fabulous freaks and as war looms between the Vampires and the Vampaneze (who kill whomever they feed on), his bravery will become humanity's last hope. This film by Paul Weitz did not meet my expectation to be a good vampire-based or let's just say... a bunch-of-freaks-based flick. Mediocre, that's my word for this one. Weitz did a nice job of making "In Good Company", but this one should be his spectacular movie of all time, and did NOT. Hmmmm... If I may say, this is like another 'no-making any sense' film like 'Batman & Robin' by Joe Schumacher. The books that make this movie possible were great, but the film didn't. The story focuses on two characters: Darren (Massoglia) and his bestfriend, Steve (Hutcherson). Darren, the one that favors spiders and Steve, the one that adores books about Vampires, and all crap breaks loose when jealousy comes up to one of them. It's just what we have hoped for, two bestfriends fighting for what they believed in. And one of them falls in love with a freak, a pretty freak, of course. The only notable characters were Steve, Crepsley, Murlough, and Mr. Tiny. But none of them got a clear brief of their past story and that's the main big hole of the story in the movie. Disappointing. I'm not being rude but, Paul Weitz did a mediocre job of making an adaptation of Darren Shan's book. Too many lacking detail of the story, especially the background briefed story of each character. Putting aside Weitz, Chris Massoglia (Darren Shan) did a horrible act as the main character in the film. I mean, look at his face; he even barely makes an expression, he looks like having a blank face, like day-dreaming or some kind. John Reilly (Crepsley) did a good job, also Ray Stevenson (Murlough). And the only person who saved all the acting problem was Josh Hutcherson (Steve), he did a fine job modeling out his role like all other antagonist role out there, not awesome, but nice. My conclusion? MEDIOCRE. That's it, with the lack of details and horrible acts (aside from Hutcherson), it should have been a direct-to-DVD.… Expand

woops! accidentally forgot to change my score! I give it a 2

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When this first came out, we had a group of young couples that wanted to go to the drive-in. I don’t remember what the other movie options were, but I do remember that no one really wanted to see this movie. I on the other hand did and made my argument so well that I convinced everyone we should spend the night watching what could be an entertaining movie. As the credits rolled, everyone said it was pretty good; I on the other hand just had my head in my lap and quietly wept to myself. I just saw a really bad movie and I was the only one who thought so. I later chalked it up to the drive-in atmosphere, you know, noisy and the screen being really too dark to see anything in nights shots, which were most of the movie. So I gave it another shot, yes dear reader, I submitted myself to watch this tripe twice. Here we have yet another movie that has the possibility to do something good with a possibly interesting story and then proceeds to make it impossible to watch. This movie is just plain awful. It stinks when you see good actors in movies like this. And I don’t use that term lightly, the number of good actors has shuuuuuuuuu-ot down in the past few years. Why did Willem Defoe and John C. Riley do this project, I’m sure they didn’t need the money. We have our hero in a weird kid, Darren, who has an overbearing family and a promising school career. He has a best friend, Steve, who is a trouble maker and they both go to a “freak showâ€�. Here they see weird things and people and Darren ends up stealing a vampire’s spider. Steve wants to be a vampire, because his life is soooooo horrible. The vampire says no, the vampires spider is stolen, the spider bites Steve, Steve almost dies, Darren takes Steve to the vampire to heal him, the vampire says okay but you have to be my vampire assistant, Darren says yes, Steve throws a hissy fit for not becoming the vampire, there’s a huge vampire war that’s going on that Darren is now in the middle of and might help end….blah, blah, blah. Holy screaming eagle crap is thing horrible. The two teen actors that play Darren and Steve are beyond annoying and the two good actors I mentioned before seemed bored to be there. Every other actor is there to be in weird makeup or to be used as a CGI guinea pig. As Steve is recruited to the “dark sideâ€� of vampirism, it is hard to believe how quickly he turns into a little girl and hates his friend of so many years because he didn’t get what he wanted. And the way Darren tries to save Steve is even more unbelievable. It is easier to believe that there an actual monkey girl (Darren’s love interest) living in the condo next to me. There is absolutely no point to this movie and it’s sad that the makers thought it looks like it was supposed to be a franchise of movies, thankfully this tanked so bad that there is little chance of continuing this atrocity. If I did a worst of the year list, this definitely would be a contender. It is so mind numbingly stupid I can’t understand how to even make fun of it properly, I get so bored. And I saw it twice! I’d say the special effects were good, but there was nothing groundbreaking here, it’s been done to death before. Why did I recommend this to everyone? Why did they like it? Why couldn’t my car have broken down on the way to the drive-in? Why couldn’t I have been struck blind that night? So many questions that will never be answered…… Expand

Much of the potential of the book series is wasted here and replaced by the ordinary-kid-gets-extraordinary-powers story. Although the acting isn't particularly bad, there is no spark between characters and no one appears to be at ease. The story is uneven and the ending is unsatisfying. Too much time devoted to light comedy and not enough to the darker themes present in the books. Characters are shallow, with no development. The special effects are decent and some action scenes are done well. Apart from that, there is not much to recommend about this movie.… Expand

CIRQUE DU FREAK is another lame teen flick based on a teen novel. That's basically all that needs to be said.

This film was amazing, as a book fan i thought the book to film adaptation was actually quite a good, I admit it was lacking quite a lot information, but due to this being a film for children certain things should have been left out, and the fact that its based on the first trilogy of the saga yet was still good, the annoying part however was how out of sequence it was, but overall I love this film and wish there was a second one.… Expand

This film was OK as it stood but must have had Darren Shan the author cringing. The crap americanisation of the story and condensation of the events was crass and departed so far from the original books to be barely recognisable. Crepsley was made out to be an almost joke and nothing like the book's sinister version. Likewise, Mr. Tiny's appearance in the story does not in fact appear until much later in the series and Darrens family never find out about his life as a vampire. All in all, this film takes the Title from Darren's books and little else. It is a typical american destruction of a really good story.… Expand