SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

gavin6942 A magician in a carnival -- who actually can read minds and levitate people and objects -- works with a super-intelligent chimp named Alex, who can also talk.Whether this is a bad movie or a so-bad-it-is-good movie will be up to the viewer to decide. I mean, either way we have to all agree it is pretty bad, right? But it does have a certain charm.The "talking" ape is bizarre, because he basically just grunts and says nothing of value. There is a creepy 40-year old man who sexually assaults a teenage girl... and the next day she announces to her father that they are getting married. What? There is a mad scientist with s poorly dubbed German accent. Why? And a dead wife who is never fully explained.

bensonmum2 Disclaimer – I watched Carnival Magic courtesy of the new MST3K. I am confident in my ability to separate the movie from the show. I'm not one of those who feels a movie is necessarily bad just because it appeared on MST3K. You'll find some real gems that probably didn't deserve the MST3K treatment. With that being said, even though I've rated Carnival Magic a rather paltry 4/10, I was actually pleasantly surprised that it was this good. Knowing that it was directed by Al Adamson, my expectations were VERY low. And with a name like Carnival Magic, I was expected something schlocky along the lines of Ray Dennis Steckler's The Incredibly Strange Creatures – a real abomination of a movie. Instead, I discovered a reasonably nice movie, presented in a fairly competent manner, featuring decent acting, and real production values. There's actually little in the way of exploitation – a real shock to me. It's not a great movie, but Carnival Magic is miles better than what I was expecting. The movie tells the story of a struggling carnival/circus. Things start to look up, however, when a magician named Markov begins using his chimp, Alex, in his act. Alex is capable of a few astounding things – he can speak a few words and he can telepathically send messages to Markov. One day, a scientist is in the audience for a performance and wants to take Alex for research purposes. Markov says no. Unfortunately for all concerned, another performer, jealous of Markov's success, tells the scientist that he'll get him the chimp. Things get ugly for everyone involved.Most of the cast is, as you would expect, littered with a bunch of no names. They give it their all and come out looking pretty good. The exception is Don Stewart as Markov. He's very good in his role and actually has a fairly impressive filmography. Impressive, at least, for an Al Adamson film.

wes-connors Carnival magician Don Stewart (as Markov) is fired from his job, but gets it back when he makes his talking chimpanzee companion "Trudi" (as Alexander) part of the act. The attention has a bad side effect when "Alex" is chimp-napped by a mad scientist and jealous lion tamer who think he may be the missing link. Director Al Adamson's wife Regina "Gena" Carrol (as Kate) is Mr. Stewart's bosomy assistant. Fortunately, Stewart kept his day job on "The Guiding Light" serial. Even more fortunately, Mr. Adamson's threatened sequel "More Carnival Magic" (1982) did not materialize.*** Carnival Magic (1981) Al Adamson ~ Don Stewart, Jennifer Houlton, Howard Segal, Mark Weston

gein The wonderful thing about living in Seattle is being able to choose among the many revival theaters that we film snobs have access to. On any given weekend we can choose between horror epics like Evil Dead, Psycho and Carrie; John Hughes' teen-angst epics like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink; or just plain obscure epics like Al Adamson's Carnival Magic.Now, Carnival Magic comes nowhere close to resembling an epic in the Cecil B. DeMille vein, but does remind me of a particularly painful epic experience that I had at the dentist's office when I was around ten. The dentist pried, drilled, scraped and pulled for what seemed to have been ten hours and after the enamel and bone dust settled, I was a couple of pounds lighter and a much stronger human animal. If you are "fortunate" enough to witness Carnival Magic, I am willing to wager that your experience will approximate my dental adventure.Carnival Magic is a children's film (I think) that "stars" Don Stewart as Markov the Magician (imagine a young Harvey Keitel). Markov is a magician who has the genuine ability to read minds, levitate and bend steel bars. When not performing one miraculous feat after the other, Markov meditates and hangs out with his English-speaking chimpanzee companion, Alex (yes, you read that right). On one ominous day, the carnival owner's daughter begs Markov to put Alex into his act to save her father's fledgling fair. Markov begrudgingly agrees. At first, ticket sales soar and Markov and Alex are carny heroes. Unfortunately, the jealous alcoholic tiger-tamer, who was once the main attraction, becomes tired of playing second fiddle to the damn dirty ape and decides to kidnap Alex and sell him to a vivisectionist.As I'm sure you have surmised, Carnival Magic is sort of a simian version of Day of The Dolphin but, regrettably, Al Adamson is no Mike Nichols and Don Stewart is sure as Hell no George C. Scott.This film contains endless scenes of North Carolinians (nothing against people from North Carolina, it's just where it was filmed) riding carnival rides, playing games and eternally sitting watching Markov perform his magic. Occasionally, the film kicks out of "She Freak" gear and grinds into never-ending inane dialogs between Markov and the other fair folk. In one infinite scene we discover how a former beauty queen is transformed, without supernatural assistance, from Miss Arkansas to Markov's assistant through a series of hard-luck choices she has made. Watching paint dry can be more fun.I won't give away the big surprise ending, but if you make it that far you deserve the big payoff - bring plenty of Kleenex.Critics and so-called film fans endlessly rail on about Edward D. Wood, Jr.s' Plan 9 From Outer Space, heralded as the "worst film ever made", (obviously, these people have never seen "Eight Heads in a Duffle Bag"), but you never hear anyone giving speeches about Carnival Magic. Well, that's just plain wrong. Carnival Magic is a cinematic endurance test of the highest caliber. It takes a magnanimous spirit to sit through an entire screening of Carnival Magic but once you do, you'll be altered forever.Sitting through this film rather reminded me of my younger-self sitting in that unholy dentist chair. Sure, I had to white-knuckle it through the entire process, but it has made me a stalwartly cinema survivor. If I can sit through that, I can take anything they throw at me. If you consider yourself a true cinemaphile, (you must if you've read this far), you owe it to yourself to see Carnival Magic. Take it from me, you'll be a stronger viewer for it.