The reason we are down on criss is because he is a jerk to the rest of the magic world. He has rarely given credit to anyone but him self and thinks he is better than everyone. Have you seen what he did on Houdinis grave. That was the mother of all insults to me.
He was horrible to his wife who had supported him through those hard times. As soon as he found out that it would impact his career negatively, he got a divorce so he could be single to draw in the girls.
He took out a new mortgage on his parents house to fund his early career, (some ruff start his "low budget" was something he took from someone else.
Copperfeild always respected the magic fraternity. He did not take all the credit to himself and shun those that opposed him.
He cares only for himself. That is what we do not like.


Juliegel

All the things you mention have to do with personal opinions about him as a person, but have nothing to do with his performance. I mean I don't know anything of other magicians' personal lifes, behaviour and so on- I watch them doing their magic, and either I enjoy it and want to see more, or I don't and watch someone else.

It wouldn't really make sense to reply in detail to the reasons you listed... As a fan and someone who has read his book, my opinion is the total opposite and we could argue about every detail to the end of time!
The thing is, all those are things none of us knows the full true story, so I won't judge him for any of them. You mentioned the divorce and all I can say is that there are always 3 sides when it comes to something like this: the sides of the 2 people envolved and the truth, which mostly lies anywhere in the middle of both. But in my opinion this regards to nobody but them.
Oh and yes, I know the pictures of Criss on Houdini's grave. What's wrong with them, do you know all of them and the story about it or only the one where he sits on the grave? He didn't mean it in a disrespectful way. Quite the contrary, it was for a Houdini tribute. Years later, on a Halloween episode of Mindfreak, Criss said that he visits the grave every year on Halloween. He's just a man who does what he feels is right, and doesn't really care about what other people think. That kind of personality truly has a positive and a negative side, but I accept him as he is. Without that self-assurance, he wouldn't be the performer he is. And the thing with his mother's house, I guess she had a reason why she allowed him to do that: she believed in her son. And he succeeded. If he were ashamed of it, he wouldn't mention it in his book, would he? He also admits that he is often selfish as an artist, that he sometimes feels sorry for that but has to live his life that way. One can accept it or not, he never tried to please everyone.

Oh I'm really unable to make it short!
I don't want to persuade you, just show that everything can be seen from different angles. However, I understand that you don't like him as a person when you see the things the way you said, but I still don't get why this should affect other magicians.

Edit: Oh I had forgotten something: when I said that he captivated people when he was on low budget, I actually meant the time before he had the off-broadway show. The "Madison Scare Garden" for example, but generally that he performed magic his whole life and always had his little success before things went big.

THANK YOU! I also read his book. Here guys, I'll give you a little quote:

" After my show, a bunch of amateur magicians go into a chat room and try to figure out how I done the illusions. If they can't find out, its automatically labeled as a camera trick. "

I pray that he didn't actually write that.

He actually wrote it with different words. But interesting that you comment a little grammar mistake instead of the meaning of the statement...

Oh come on man, I was just writing it like that because I didn't have the book in front of me. You know what I meant, now comment on what I said.

I think he's making up excuses, because lame little kids on chat rooms even know they're camera edits/tricks.

That is not exactly how it works for most. You can always tell if stooges are used because while watching something will feel different, not real. for most non magicians they can not feel this a strong as a magician as they don't pay much attention to the little stuff. But let me ask you this, if you were going to do say the float from building to building you would tell people right. You would not have 5 people watching from the roof top and 2 on the ground. Seems a little fishy, but thats just me.


Juliegel

That's right, but isnt't that already part of the illusion? Since I watched the episodes again and again and since I stepped into the art myself, watched other magicians and so on, I know that there are tricks that cannot work without "stooges"- I prefer calling them "initiated assistants".
Stage magicians use them as well, so for me there's so difference if the magician forces someone to say they've never met before on tv, or use another method to give that impression to the audience when he performs on a stage and calls a volunteer. The clue is, even when people know that this methods exist, they don't know exactly when a "stooge" is used and when not. A magician may see the differences more clear, but as you said, not the regular audience and that's what's important. And most important is what someone feels when watching the illusion for the first time.
I agree to what you said about the building float. Almost everybody who watched it again and again, and especially a magician, comes to these results anytime. Me too, and you can believe me when I say that I thought a lot about it. But before that, it gave me an unforgettable feeling, raised questions I didn't ask myself before, made me create new philosophies... and literally opened my mind. It's probably one of the most discussed magic videos on youtube and there are still new comments every day. For some people it's still a miracle while others already know, or think to know how it must have been done. I think that Criss wanted to recreate the miracle he talked about in the episode and even in the book. And when you see the long-lasting reactions, that's exactly what he achieved!
What he did was creating an image nobody can watch and forget the next moment without thinking about the question of what's possible. It's also an inspiration. With increasing technology, hopefully one day there will be a magician who will be able to do this illusion live in front of a big audience, and the reason for him doing it will be the video of Criss Angel, and the obsession to really do it live.

Edited: And in my eyes that's definitely a positive effect on the world of magic.

I'm happy that I'm not the only one on these forums that like Criss Angel.

Me too, Maloney... me too!

Ok. I've been away from here for a while but after watching the season premiere of MindFreak Season 4 I had to come back to see what people were saying.

I dislike Criss Angel but watch his show to keep current with whats being done in the magic world. I can honestly say I'm not jealous of Criss Angel but I hate him and his show. I understand that the laymen think he is actually performing tricks live for people but to anyone with a little magic and film experience it is obvious how they are all fake crowds and edits.

I see that Criss still hasn't hired any decent acting stooges. They are all so transparent it's sickening.

And if you saw Criss Angel's hit by SUV illusion that was just horrible. If you haven't seen it Criss goes into one of his continuous shots and the camera actually pans away from him for a few seconds. Is that really a continuous shot if the focus of the trick leaves the shot? Oh and the crowd was so far away it was laughable.

He was pumping up the Lake Mead illusion the entire episode like it was something amazing that has never been done. Didn't anyone tell Criss that he already walked on water in a casino pool surrounded by people? Honestly the pool, even though just as fake as Lake Mead, was better.

Criss Angel is a disgrace to magic.

If you are referring to the Sharpie On Palm trick he simply used stooges. There would be a legit way to perform it but I could tell from watching it that he selected stooges.

The attractive older woman turned around and began to write on her palm before Criss actually told her too. She was a little ahead of him so she was obviously prepped ahead of time and told what to do and write.

Sorry Criss sucks.

Don't be sorry it's not anything someone with any kind of background in the "Art of Magic" wouldn't have known already..

Here's Criss' inspiration for his "walking on water" illusion. When he asked for permission to repeat Andre Kole's illusion, he was turned down as it's one of Andre's signature pieces. Criss did it anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGFHQpuXbjQ