Darren (Chris Massoglia) is a typical teenager. He gets good grades and is somewhat popular. His life though seems to be missing something. His best pal Steve (Josh Hutcherson) provides much of the excitement that he gets out of life. Steve comes from a broken family and likes to act up. Darren’s parents are not fond of Steve at all. They are your typical movie parents. They are strict and they don’t want Darren to stray from the straight and narrow. They forbid Darren from seeing Steve after they get in trouble again.
“Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” has a breezy feel to it. It never takes itself too seriously. The competing tones to the film though sometimes muddy the arena. Is it a fantasy film, horror film, comedy or straight action flick? It can change from scene to scene, but never becomes a huge problem. Director Paul Weitz (“American Pie”, “About A Boy”) is probably striving to be as many things to different audiences.
One night Darren and Steve go to a forbidden sideshow on the outskirts of town. It has all sorts of strange creatures and interesting people. It includes a wolfman (Tom Woodruff Jr.), a bearded lady (Salma Hayek), a snakeboy (Patrick Fugit) and a very tall ringmaster (Ken Watanabe). The two boys are fascinated by all of these interesting sights. Steve especially likes Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilley), a mysterious man with a multi-colored venomous spider. Steve recognizes him from one of his vampire books. Steve begs Larten to turn him into a vampire, but he refuses. He states his blood isn’t right.
Darren has a fascination for spiders and steals Larten’s prized spider. This turns out to be a bad move because he bites Steve. Darren then has to make a bargain with Larten to save his buddy. Darren has to become a vampire to get the antidote for Steve. The interplay between Darren and Larten is fun. Larten dismisses a lot of the vampire myths and almost seems annoyed by Darren’s constant questions. He does though soon take a liking to him and thinks he could be useful.
Darren is taken under Larten’s wings and starts to learn the ropes of being a vampire. It is not an easy transition. They both live in a freaks community where it is peaceful. Darren takes a liking to a monkey girl called Rebecca (Jessica Carlson). It is a nice relationship free from the sexuality displayed in other teen flicks.
Mr Tiny (Michael Cerveris) is interested in all the players. He wants a war to start, so he can come out on top to rule the world. There is an uneasy truce right now between the vampires and the vampaneze. Vampires do suck blood from people, but do not kill their prey. Vanpaneze on the other hand do kill the people they get their nourishment from. Murlough (Ray Stevenson) is a vampaneze who works with Mr. Tiny. He is itching for a fight with Larten.
There is a nice battle that brews between Steve and Darren. Steve feels betrayed by Darren taking away his dream of becoming a vampire. Weitz could have made Steve a bit more sympathetic early on. He just seems like a snot from the get go. You don’t feel any sympathy at all for his plight in life.
The action scenes in the film aren’t as interesting as they should be. The protagonists are usually whizzing around at breakneck speeds and there is nothing to really see. It just shows that vampires and vampaneze are quite quick. Mr. Tiny sets up a showdown between all the major characters. The ending is a bit of a letdown because it is a set up for future sequels. That could be a problem if this movie isn’t a hit and you are stuck with no resolution to the final scenes.
“Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” is a fun and entertaining movie that has a decent blend of humor, horror and fantasy. It certainly would have been better if Weitz had made it more of a stand alone movie and his action scenes were clearer to see. Here’s hoping for some sequels to flesh out the story.
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