"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" has one of the most beautiful, and most promising, opening-credits sequences I've seen in ages, an extended animated reverie in which wandering vines and assorted creepy-crawlies drift across the screen in silhouette, the sort of thing Saul Bass might have dreamed up for Tim Burton if they'd ever worked together. Those credits (the designer is Garson Yu) aren't completely wasted: "Cirque du Freak" -- which is based on the series of kid-horror books by Irish novelist Darren Shan -- has a good-natured, spooky-fun spirit, and features some bright, clever visual touches, including a fuzzy-looking neon spider who skitters along on eight delicate, spindly legs.
See www.salon.com for full review
