evitab-363-932048 Absolutely dreadful! Nothing like the books. This movie was all over the place. If you read any of the books, DO NOT watch this movie!!!!

macpet49-1 What a downer. Just when it began to look like a nice little film, they introduce this wooden statue with 1 and 1/2 expressions named Massoglia. He's obviously been chosen for either his looks (rather average actually) or his parents had something to do with the film industry or backing the film or maybe they're just Mafiosa who run Vegas and Hollywood. Anyway, this kid doesn't even try. He looks like he's on drugs to squelch pain. Even trees have more moods. This boy ought to be driving a pickup truck for the local Esso station. He probably wouldn't even be good at that. It's difficult to keep watching this film (though I did just to see what happens in the end) because everyone else is fine and trying so hard to carry it. One feel pity for the costars. All that meat and no potatoes.

SnoopyStyle Darren Shan (Chris Massoglia) is a teen who loves spiders. His best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) loves vampires. They live in a surreal preppy suburbs. One day a freak show comes to town, and the two must go see. The ringmaster is vampire Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) and he has a special spider. Steve couldn't convince Larten to convert him. But when Larten's spider bites Steve, Larten is willing to save Steve only if Darren would become a vampire's assistant.There are a lot of name actors that seems to be slumming it in tiny minor roles. It's distracting especially considering the lead Chris Massoglia is so underwhelming. While I appreciate the costumes and the style of the movie, the story moves too slowly. There are too many scenes dwelling on the minutia rather than dealing with the main story. And John C. Reilly just don't fit the vampire stereotype. He's neither dark nor brooding. There is something just not right with the freak show.

zoratwilight Before you keep reading, I will say that I read the books and so my own opinion will be heavily influenced by the books. When I read the entire Cirque Du Freak series, I was amazed by it and I got hooked on it. There was always an astounding plot twist waiting in each book, which made it amazing. I can't say I feel the same way about the movie. This movie is basically the main idea of book 1 with a whole bunch of random stuff thrown in. Many movies mostly follow the main idea of a book but change a few scenes here and there and throw in a few changed details. This basically rewrote everything. Things like the extent of Darren's abilities are over-exaggerated and other things like the vampaneze are nothing like their book counterparts. I could go on for a long time about the many differences between the books and the movie but I won't. One thing that really bothered me was Darren's expressionless-ness. It seemed like he wore the same face throughout the movie. On a more positive note, the action scenes were pretty good although at some points they felt a bit fake. The special effects were also pretty good.