It's a good time to be a morbid child. When I was a kid, there was no such genre as "children's horror." Fortunately, my mother believed that anything that was deemed safe enough for television broadcast must be okay for kids, so I enjoyed a steady diet of afternoon Creature Feature ghouls, ghosts, and monsters that only occasionally gave me nightmares. But had there been Harry Potter and Goosebumps and Cirque du Freak when I was of the appropriate age, I'd have been in heaven. Because what's great about these, and similar, series is that they really are gruesome and creepy and scary -- which kids love, even as parents raise a cautious eyebrow.
All circuses should be this much fun. In the Cirque du Freak series by Irish author Darren Shan, the main character (also named Darren Shan) starts out as a 12-year-old boy. In the film, which is based on the first three books of the series and a sampling of events from others, his age has been bumped to 16, probably to head off the assumption that this is a kid's movie. Well, and to appeal to the Twilight crowd, let's be honest. Darren (Chris Massoglia) is a bit of a goody-two-shoes and is crazy about spiders, and his more rambunctious best friend, Steve (Josh Hutcherson) is into vampires. When they visit a traveling carnival with unusual freak-show acts (like a woman who can re-grow severed limbs and a snake-charming reptile boy), they're entranced. But a chain of events leads to Darren making a deal with one of the performers, Mr. Crepsley (John C. Reilly) to become his half-vampire assistant, which makes Steve extremely jealous while Darren learns the ins and outs of surviving as a denizen of the dark.
Salma Hayak gives great beard. Director Paul Weitz (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) retains much of the gee-whiz flavor of the books while, thankfully, avoiding their somewhat condescending tone (why do so many authors think that they have to use a sing-song voice when writing for kids?) and casts his film with brilliantly talented actors -- Reilly is delightfully sardonic and sinister as Crepsley, Salma Hayak somehow makes her bearded lady dead-sexy, and Patrick Fugit nearly steals the movie as Evra the Snake Boy -- but falls flat with Massoglia as Darren, who seems to have been cast simply because he'll continue to be photogenic should there be sequels. As an actor, Massoglia's not in the same league as Reilly, with whom he shares most of his scenes. Watching Reilly valiantly attempt to draw something of substance out of Massoglia is painful, and it's the film's one weak spot. Cirque looks gorgeous, though, eschewing the washed-out Twilight/Vampire Diaries look for something brighter, bolder and more befitting the often comic story. Cirque du Freak dances a line between morbid and amusing, often blurring the distinction, making for a fine, creepy-funny film that will please kids, teenagers and grown-ups. And hopefully set the stage for a sequel or two.