The Vampires Assistant

Today, after 2-3 years of waiting, I finally got to see «The Vampires Assistant»
Ever since I heard about the making of a movie version of the books that changed my life, I have been waiting anxiously to watch it, and I promised myself to not download it, no matter what!
Anyways, here is my review!

Darren Shan is a young boy. He goes to school, has a loving family, a best friend and is obsessed with spiders. He never really get's in to trouble, but it all will change when his best friend, Steve Leonard drags him along to go watch a freak show that is in town. There, they see all kinds of creatures.. a lady who can see the future and grow beard, a wolf man and many many more creatures. But there is particularly one person, that take their interest. Steve is obsessed with vampires, and is convinced that this man, is one of the vampires he has seen in his vampire book. Darren, could really not care that much, because he is being hypnotized by the vampires very rare, and very poisonous spider, Madam Octa. Darren can not stop thinking about the spider, and decides to steal it from the vampire. Unfortunately, the spider escapes when he takes her to school, and Steve is bitten and gets in to a coma and the doctors can not find a cure. Darren goes of back to the theater where they saw the show, and the vampire, Larten Crepsly gives him two choices. Either, he can let his friend die, or become Mr. Crepslys half blood vampire assistant.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lc7zhwfe6Q

I was positively surprised, because after seeing the cast list, that disappointed me enormously and seeing how different the movie was from the book when I first watched the trailer, I really did not have hopes for this movie. But I came to learn that this movie is only based on the books, and not going to be written from a book to a movie.
Anyways, I watched the movie and tried hard not to think about comparing it to the books, and I came to the thought that this is a good movie... Not the best I will ever see, but something I would like, even if I had never heard of the books.
I like how they turned a movie that could have been cold and depressing, like you would think after reading the books, and turning it in to an enjoyable and fun movie with awesome lines and characters that will make you laugh by just being what they are, freaks. Also, the effects were awesome, as I always have to mention, and even if they changed A LOT about many characters, and even putting two people from the books and making them into one, I surprisingly liked it all.
The plot had a drastic change, and only the 40 first minutes of the movie were something I could relate to the books. But I can honestly say, that I really don't mind, because the movie was fun, and Paul Weitz did an awesome job directing this!
With that said, I rate this movie 6/10