Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Cirque du Freak is a semi-popular young adult book series written by Darren Shan that hit the big screens for the first time on October 23rd, 2009. The movie follows the beginning of Darren's adventure, bringing the characters and Mr. Shan's words to life.

The Vampire's Assistant, from what I could gather, is the first three novels compressed into one movie. This means series of books is going to come to us in four parts if they continue making them into movies.

The movie wasn't as much like the books as fans would have hoped. Things were left out or changed for times' sake but it did not take away from the overall wonder of the movie itself. The acting was well done and the visual effects (such as the 'flitting') were great.

The only major flaw throughout the movie (which might ultimately pose a problem with the movies) is the age difference between 'book' Darren Shan and 'movie' Darren Shan. In the books, Darren Shan and his friends have yet to become teenagers, maybe 10 or 11 years old from what I could gather, movie Darren was 13 or 14 years old.

Overall the movie was excellent and well worth the time to watch it.