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British writer Darren Shan's books are made into movie, "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
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Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)
If you're hoping to see a little of the hit Twilight movie's magic in this vampire movie, then you're going to be disappointed. This movie was O.K. It was entertaining, but confusing. That’s probably because it was created from three books of British writer, Darren Shan's popular, young adult, comic-gothic novels. There was simply too much to be crammed into one movie. It wandered down roads that never led anywhere and it created questions with no answers. Shan’s books are vampire-centric and include a complete 12-book saga, Cirque du Freak. As a result, the movie, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant seemed to leave out a lot of important information and at the end, we were left with many questions and quite a bit of confusion. It could have been so much better if the script had been better. The book was adapted by Paul Weitz (who directed the film and wrote the script with Brian Helgeland.) Weitz, who also directed About a Boy starring Hugh Grant, and Helgeland, definitely needed some help. The directing was awkward, infusing the action with jarring cuts and transitions that only served to amplify the holes in the narrative.
Darren (Holes’ Chris Massoglia) is a teenager who is a good student, but is a bit of a nerd. His parents are loving, but strict. His best friend is bad-boy Steve (Josh Hutcherson) who has an alcoholic mother and an absent father. Steve's a class-cutting, vandalizing punk who leads Darren away from "the path to a happy, productive life," or so Darren’s parents warn.
One night, a strange Euro-limo passes through town and drops off flyers for “The World’s Greatest Freak Show.” Steve insists they should go and together, he and Darren sneak out of their homes and ride their bicycles to the one night event. Steve recognizes Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) from his vampire books and is anxious to escape his miserable life by joining the undead. (Larten is the emcee of the freak show.) But the guy whose "destiny" it is to join the vampires in their war with the murderous Vampanese is Darren.
The teens find themselves in the middle of a long-running conflict between rival factions of the undead: the eccentric, but basically good Vampires who feed off humans, but don’t kill them, and the diabolical Vampaneze who kill humans when they feed. It is never explained why the Vampanese and Vampires don’t get along. Needless to say, the two teenage boys enter a world whose inhabitants are quirky and freaky, thus, the Cirque du Freak.
At the circus, whose connection to the whole Vampire-versus-Vampaneze imbroglio is never entirely clear, Darren finds a squad of human oddities, including a bearded lady (Salma Hayek), a fellow with two stomachs (Frankie Faison), an indie-rock snake boy (Patrick Fugit) and a potential sweetheart with the tail of a monkey (Jessica Carlson). The enigmatic fellow and vampire named Larten Crepsley, is played wonderfully by John C. Reilly. He is the best thing about this movie. He was great and the reason I didn’t leave in the middle of it. He made every scene believable.
One of Crepsley’s fellow Vampires, Gavner Purl, is played by Willem Dafoe, whose hollow cheeks and funereal voice give him instant credibility. Also on hand is Michael Cerveris, the brilliant stage actor (“Tommy,” the recent Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd”), who plays Mr. Tiny, a porcine provocateur who entices Darren’s best friend, Steve over to the “other side” – the Vampaneze in his quest to stir up trouble in the underworld.
To recap: Darren is invited to become a half-vampire and Larten’s assistant, which he does, much to the anger of his best friend, Steve, who was denied the privilege because he had bad blood. Crepsley becomes Darren's mentor and the adventures begin.
There were many great actors in this movie who didn’t have much to do including Willem Dafoe, Orlando Jones, Salma Hayek, and Jane Krakowski (of 30 Rock fame.) Hayek is entertaining as a lady with big boobs and a full beard that grows at various times.
There is no way this movie can be compared to the Twilight Saga or Harry Potter movies. No way. It doesn’t even come close. And, I was hoping it would. Coincidentally enough, Paul Weitz’s brother and frequent collaborator, Chris, directed the second installment of the Twilight movies, New Moon, which opens November 20th. Let’s hope Chris did a better job. Which I have no doubt he did!
As I mentioned earlier, it’s not bad. It’s O.K. Mildly entertaining. But, it could have been so much better. Darn. And if you think this review was a bit confusing, then you’ll understand just how confusing the movie really is.
For more movie reviews, please see www.MovieBlogByDonna.com.
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