Vampire Academy Movie Review

Vampire Academy
Stars: Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Danila Kozlovsky
More Information: IMDB
Summary: Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half human/vampire, guardians of the Moroi, peaceful, mortal vampires living discretely within our world. Her legacy is to protect the Moroi from bloodthirsty, immortal Vampires, the Strigoi. This is her story.

My Thoughts: "Oh look! Another teen vampire movie!" you say? Not with this book to movie adaptation of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy national bestselling YA novel.  This movie probably won't be Oscar nominated any time soon, but it has heart and spunk and I love spunk.  I also love a healthy dose of cheesiness, which this movie has plenty of. But don't mistake this as a "Twilight wannabe" because this movie goes nowhere near that playing field. There aren't any gushy love triangles, there's no sparkling (thank goodness), and there's a helluva lot more action and butt-kicking.

I read Vampire Academy almost three years ago, but I still remember the plot lines and what the heart of the story was about, and I feel like this movie hit on all of the major points, and that's all a fine can ask for from an adaptation right?

Well, yes, but even with all of this there were some moments when I felt like this movie lacked a little. Don't get me wrong, I really liked this movie, especially as a fan. However, my biggest problem was that it sometimes felt a bit rushed.  The movie is only an hour and 45 minutes long. I feel like if they had expanded to maybe two hours, then that would have helped to smooth out the transitions a bit and help the audience get a better grip of the world building going on here.

I mean, the movie starts off in the middle of an entirely new vampy-world. There needs to be some time for set up before the plot can really take off, but VA takes off with a bang and doesn't slow down except to occasionally give the audience some time to breathe, especially when not everyone one in the audience is acquainted with this world by reading the book first.

All that aside though, this rushedness (is that a word?) did not detract from my movie-going experience too much. I really did enjoy myself while watching this movie, cheesy graphics and snarky dialogue and all.  Zoey Deutch was a butt-kicking, sharp-tongued gem, and Danila Kozlovsky was a bit dark and broody, but what girl doesn't have a soft spot for that? (hint: I do)

I found myself getting lost in the action and wishing that I could be friends with Deutch and Lucy Fry's characters for most of the movie. I had forgotten how much I love the Rose/Lissa dynamic from the book and their onscreen bromance only furthered that love. 

I really hope this movie gets off the ground enough for a sequel to be made because I'm really looking forward to what the rest of this franchise can do. Personally, I believe it has a lot of potential, especially with such a witty, snarky and make-your-heart-gooey-with-cuteness debut.

And in other news, I now have a renewed vigor to read the rest of the series ASAP. I suddenly need more Dimitri and vampire boarding school drama in my life.
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars