Vampire Academy (2014) User Reviews

I really wish I could love this movie but I don't

[inasinsikter · 4/10 · 27 February 2014]

I have read all the books. Entertaining young adult novels, easy to read and difficult to put down. Loved them even though I don't really fit the age category being over 30 and a mother of teenagers. However, I was looking forward to seeing the books come to life. I kept my expectations down, but still, I'm sad to say I was so disappointed. I really, really wanted to like the movie but it fell flat.

I think it would have worked so much better as a TV-show, since the books are really about characters, and in the limited time that a movie has, there is simply no time to develop characters in the way the books do. A whole lot of time goes in to explaining who is who and what and why, and the story's twists and turns come too fast and doesn't have any time to build up any suspension at all. I found myself getting bored and wishing for the movie to end sooner than it did. It is such a pity that it was not developed for TV instead.

This won't go to the top of the class, but it's not a complete failure either.

[shawneofthedead · 6/10 · 26 February 2014]

In a world sparkled into submission by the Twilight phenomenon, it's hard to take yet another vampire high-school fantasy seriously. That could be one reason why the movie version of Vampire Academy - based on a best-selling series of novels by Richelle Mead - has been met with such overwhelming critical derision. Critics have blasted the film for being lazy, riddled with clichés, and overstuffed - only the last of which is strictly true. Actually, Mark Waters' film is a fun watch, featuring offbeat characters and relationships so interesting that you might find yourself wanting them to have more screen-time, not less.

Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) is a Dhampir: a half-human/half-vampire girl born to be a Guardian to the Moroi - a race of peaceful, magical and mortal vampires. Rose shares a psychic bond with her best friend Lissa (Lucy Fry), a Moroi princess who's the last of her particular bloodline. Rose's task is to protect Lissa from the Strigoi: immortal, blood-hungry vampires with neither soul nor depth of feeling. But the Strigoi have nothing on the vagaries of high school: Rose and Lissa must deal with nasty pranks and clique politics, even as the conspiracy against Lissa gains a strength that suggests it might go deeper than anyone suspects.

Amidst the rush and rage of high school, we'll meet Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), Dhampir extraordinaire; Natalie (Sarah Hyland), the geeky daughter of Victor (Gabriel Byrne), a friend of Lissa's family; and Christian (Dominic Sherwood), a brooding young man whose Moroi parents chose to turn themselves into Strigoi by taking innocent lives. Not to mention Mia (Sami Gayle), the catty girl who has it out for Lisa and the film's biggest 'stars': Olga Kurylenko as batty headmistress Kirova and Joely Richardson as Moroi queen Tatiana.

If that sounds like a surfeit of story, you haven't even heard the half of it. Vampire Academy is jam-packed with details, exposition and characters, all of them jostling for attention. There are complex rules and taboos surrounding the entire society, most of which are either shoe-horned awkwardly into dialogue or tossed quickly into the story as it tumbles by at a breathless pace. The characters' quips and depth get a little lost in the tumult. It's really what keeps the film from finding its feet: the ideas crammed into Mead's universe simply aren't given much room to breathe.

Stick with the film, however, and it evens out into a fun - if rather frustrating - viewing experience. There's a welcome cheeky bite (pun very much intended) to the script, which somewhat makes up for the unsettling choppiness of the story. Rose, too, makes for a spunky protagonist who's several worlds away from Twilight's tragically unprogressive heroine, Bella. She kicks butt, loses her temper, and reels off sarcastic zingers - all while demonstrating that she's every bit as capable as Dimitri and the guys around her. The element of romance that's an inevitable part of every high-school film doesn't grate as much as it might: the final moment between Rose and Dimitri is a heartfelt, surprising delight, and one of the most refreshing scenes you're ever likely to see in a teen movie.

The cast is mostly competent, with Deutch the clear stand-out. Carrying the entire, occasionally unwieldy film on her shoulders, she's hugely likable and natural on screen. Her compatriots fare less well, with Fry in particular feeling rather awkward and hamstrung in her part. Hyland, meanwhile, has quite a bit of fun subverting any expectations audiences might have of her based on her sassy airhead role in Modern Family. Byrne plays it straight, if a little tortured, while Kurylenko and Richardson seem to have wandered in from a high-camp pantomime.

Vampire Academy is very far from high art: it's too messily stitched together for that, bursting at the seams from a slightly nonsensical plot that often threatens to overwhelm the characters and their relationships. But it's also quite far from the travesty that most critics have suggested it is. There's something smarter and more enjoyable at work here, even if it sometimes gets buried beneath the machinations of its own script.

another bad YA series

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 18 November 2014]

Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) is a Dhampir. Dhampirs protect the Moroi who are kinda vampires. Rose had run away from St Vladimir's Academy with her Moroi friend Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry). They have a rare psychic connection. Lissa is the last of the Dragomirs and in line for the crown. They are brought back to the Academy where they face mean girls, convoluted politics, and the ever threatening Strigoi who are turned-evil violent powerful vampire creatures. The Moroi learn to control the basic elements while the Dhampir learn to fight.

It's yet another one of these YA series and more expositions of new terminology to get through. It's enough to turn off anybody. The story throws everything at the viewers. It's a jumble mess. The Academy is reminiscent of Hogwarts except less magical and less interesting. It's also got the modernity setup in a mishmash of styles. The mean girls aspect is simplistic. The writing is not really up to standard. Zoey Deutch tries to bring some interest with a jokey fast-talking sarcastic girl but it's been done better. That's probably the only part that holds any promise and differentiate itself from all the other YA series. It's as if Ellen Page's Juno got dropped into one those franchises. Even though she doesn't succeed, she's still somewhat interesting and the only reason why I would rate this marginally better than the other sludge. Very marginally...

Loved the books - Hated the movie

[raechel-carlsen · 1/10 · 19 March 2014]

I have read every book from the VA series many times over and I absolutely love them - love the story, the characters and everything in between. After seeing the trailer for Vampire Academy I already knew it was going to be terrible, but I went and saw it anyway - I'm such a huge fan of the books, I had to go see the movie. I went with my Best Friend and we both have the same opinion of the film. Hands down, the worst book to movie adaptation I have ever seen.. And I have seen a lot.

I'll start by saying that even before I saw the film I wasn't happy with the casting choices they made. And I'll tell you why.

Rose Hathaway is meant to be this bad ass curvy, voluptuous girl with dark tanned skin (from her Turkish father, remember?) and dead straight, long, almost jet black hair. What they made her was this skinny, pale, curly haired stick with no curves, no tan and no straight hair. Not to mention you could tell they had to purposely make the actors boobs look bigger by putting her in push up bras. I also don't think Zoey Deutch did a good enough job playing Rose. Don't get me wrong, she's a good actor and as her own character she was great - but not as Rose Hathaway. She wasn't nearly as Sassy enough, not the slightest bit seductive/flirtatious enough and her whole character was built on snarky comments (and yes, I realise that Rose is that kind of character - but that is not all she is. She has substance. And Rose Hathaway in the film, did not).

And their decision for Dimitri? COME ON! He was no Dimitri Belikov. Danila Kozlovski did an alright job with the script he was given, he had Dimitri's sneaky smirk down to a T! But he is not a 'god' like Dimitri is so often described as in the books. His fight scenes were all so obviously fake and they weren't convincing.

I said it before and I'll say it again.. Worst book to movie adaptation ever. Who ever wrote the script for the film clearly loves their soap operas because this is exactly what the film felt like to me. It actually felt like they were mocking the book. They made it all about cheap jokes and cheesy one liners and the book is WAY more than that. They focused solely on the comedic side that the rest of it literally looked like a satire. Not to mention they added so much crap in that wasn't in the book and they left out so much from the book that really needed to be in the film. For instance, the development of feelings between Rose and Dimitri - BARELY touched on in the film. Rose & Dimitri don't just fall in love at first sight.. They have weeks of training sessions, of getting to know each other before they realise they love each other. In the film, however, they have a few suggestive comments, a couple of training sessions and at the end of the film they are confessing their love for one another. I was kind of like 'um.. when did that happen?'

Another crucial focus in the book is Lissa's Spirit driving her insane.. Which they kind of touched on but not really and definitely not enough. They also decided to add a random scene where Rose tells Headmistress Kirova and other faculty members about Lissa's Spirit.. As far as I remember, in the book, Rose does everything to prevent them from finding out...

They also made a HUGE mistake when they decided to add a Strigoi attack at the very beginning of the film just outside the gate at St Vlad's.. hmm, last I checked the wards surrounding the Academy stretched much farther out then the gate line. But who am I to say, I could be mistaken.. I've only read the book say at least 5 times! (not even an over exaggeration). Another scene they decided to ruin was the lust charm scene, which lasted all of 15 seconds. In the book, Dimitri sees the 'decision' in Rose's eyes and removes her necklace as it's the last item of 'clothing' she's wearing, then and only then do they realise what the necklace was.. In the film, however, Dimitri somehow knows exactly what the necklace is and rips it from her neck violently. Also, Christian doesn't get shredded to pieces by the PSI hounds.. He gets shot. By Victor Dashkov. Yep. That actually happened. Or, didn't happen.

One final point I will make, is that I know how difficult it is to make a good movie adaptation from a book.. There is way too much in a book that just can't fit in to a movie. But I feel like there could have been much better decisions made regarding Vampire Academy to make it a much better film. I even thought that as a movie on it's own, it was terrible. There was no real point to it - people watching it who haven't read the books would probably walk away going 'was that a mockery of all things Vampire?' Not to mention the film raced through the storyline as if there was no tomorrow.

I have read some other reviews by other fans of the books and I have to say, I'm extremely disappointed in the fact that they thought it was a fantastic movie.. In my opinion, it most certainly was not. I would be shocked to my core if I heard Richelle Mead say she was proud of the movie and happy with the direction the director/writers/producers etc. took. This movie was not Vampire Academy. This movie was rubbish.

One of the most serious pacing problems ever...

[A_Different_Drummer · 7/10 · 29 April 2014]

... which ironically makes this film exceptionally difficult to review.

Notes:

1. Needless to say, this reviewer is not of the demographic of this very ambitious (some might perhaps use the word "arrogant") film. Ordinarily this would be a handicap. However based on the reaction from the intended demographic in the chat groups, which borders on outright hatred, this may actually give me more objectivity.

2. Running almost 2 hours with the last minute or so devoted to advertising the sequel (a nasty habit that is now part of Hollywood's DNA, with antecedents back to the 1930 cliff-hangers) this was intended to be the first in a series. Whether that will ever happen is now in doubt...?

3. Some of the most astounding pacing problems I have ever seen in a film, especially given the obvious availability of talent and budget. I mean, you have names like Joely Richardson and Gabriel Byrne just sitting around .. and this is the best you can do? The film does not even start to resemble a proper film (with rhythm and pacing and audience connection) until about 1 hour in, AND THAT IS MUCH TOO LATE.

4. Another irony -- the "teen themes" about romance and BFFs and the perils of zits and high school seem overly forced, and therefore less likely to impress the intended audience. Which seems to be what actually happened.

5. The one redeeming factor is Zoey Deutch,a newcomer who appears to have been unleashed by the director and simply allowed free rein to do her thing. The only wise decision he made, it seems. This girl has major potential, the camera loves her, I believe the audience connected with her, and overall she comes across as a sassy Ellen Page -- and, recall, Page was pretty darned sassy to start with. Best of luck in her future career.

A Simply Fun Film!!!

[Pinhead88 · 7 February 2014]

I see one review that simply bashed this movie for having vampires and magic. So that must pertain to twilight and harry potter right? No. This movie is a combination of underworld (slightly) and mean girls. I've read the novel and it was the exact same way. The thing is this movie was destined to follow twilight, and to be honest if twilight never came out this would be better anticipated. Anything nowadays has to live up to the sh*t that is twilight. Twilight was moody and had a message that having a boyfriend is most important while this one is simply have fun and be yourself. People always will compare vampire movies to twilight, and thats simply blasphemous. You go into this movie wanting to find deep meaningful messages and symbolism, you won't find it. Go into this movie with an open mind and ready to have fun you'll enjoy yourself immensely. This is simply a movie to have fun, that is ALL!!!

No, just no.

[dolf_wega · 1/10 · 28 June 2014]

This is one of the worst based on a book movies ever made. If you read the books, you will be disappointed to the point of crying. The script is very poor. Of course you can't put everything from the books in a movie, but this was just bad. The cast also was a big disappointment, the actresses didn't match the characters at all, it's a big question to me why they were chosen to play them. Rose, my favorite character in the books, is completely ruined by this girl (Zoë Deutch or something I thought) that doesn't have any of Rose's style and sass. Her acting was also very poor. No, I cannot recommend this movie to anyone. Just read the books instead.

Good enough.

[the-awesome-von-grimm · 7/10 · 6 November 2014]

I can easily understand why people are hating on this movie so much. I have to admit that when I saw the pink high school cover of the movie, I didn't think I would ever watch it. But when I was bored out of my brains and I was looking for an airy, girlie movie, I found the trailer and it satisfied me enough to watch it. I must say that the story is quite cool, I haven't read the books and after watching this I actually want to read them. But I can understand that vampire or horror lovers find this a tacky 'another vampire movie' thing. It is predictable, girlie, the plot is bumpy and weird. Everything doesn't come together, the storyline only develops itself with more shocking revealings and predictable plot twists. But to be fair, if you are a teenage girl (or like me 21, and still in for teen movies some times) it can be amusing enough to watch. The actors look great, the plot isn't hard to follow and you can just watch it and be happy. :)

What film did everyone watch?

[willwri14 · 3/10 · 8 March 2014]

I'm sitting here writing this a mere four hours after seeing the film, and I don't really know what I expected - if I expected nearly two hours of tired tropes and poor writing, coupled with all around poor performances, I would be happy. If the film was well written, well acted, and a slight bit campy, it would be fine, but it just wasn't. The concept isn't original, the cast was all around shocking, excluding Victor, although there seemed to be a complete lack of evil-ferret-stroking; his character arc was rather predictable. Every single line was just exposition after exposition, with the occasional burst of teenage sass from Rose, which was extremely frustrating after a while. Quipping one liners is not necessary, especially after an hour and a half.

Every relationship felt forced, I didn't feel any connection to the characters, and I honestly couldn't care less what happened to them; they were not believable in the slightest. A good script would have helped, but the performances also assisted in bogging it down I actually enjoyed the concept, as someone who hasn't read the books. I liked the vibe I got from the film to begin with, but it felt extremely tacky. Everything felt like plastic, everyone's face was constantly caked with makeup, felt extremely superficial and tacky, and every backdrop was injected with a tonne of poor CGI. All of the special effects through the film were just poor, and were not nice to look at. The fire effects looked like the fire effects from Adobe After Effects.

I liked what they were trying, but they honestly needed to up their game all across the board; budget-wise, script-wise, casting-wise, and the dozens of other issues with this picture. I almost got a 'it's so bad it's good' feeling, but it's heavy handed and poorly made throughout.

I do not recommend.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for Vampires

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 6 July 2014]

The teenagers Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) and Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir (Lucy Fry) are best friend and escapee from the St. Vladimir's Academy for more than one year. When the guardian Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky) from the St Vladimir's Academy and his team find the girls, they bring them back to the academy. Rose is a Dhampir, a good half human-half vampire breed that can eat regular food and are trained to protect the Moroi from the evil immortal vampires Strigoi. Lissa is a Princess of the Moroi, a good mortal breed of vampires that feed of blood from donors and is capable to control one of the four elements.

When they return, the Headmistress Kirova (Olga Kurylenko) intends to punish Rose, but the old Moroi Victor Dashkov (Gabriel Byrne), who was a friend of Lissa's family, dissuades Kirova from her intent. Lissa dates her outcast schoolmate Christian Ozera (Dominic Sherwood) but unexpectedly she is threatened by someone that wishes to harm her. Victor's daughter Natalie (Sarah Hyland) joins Rose and Lissa to help them to seek out who might be the enemy.

"Vampire Academy" is an entertaining fantasy with a story that is a sort of combination of "Harry Potter" with "Twilight". Zoey Deutch is gorgeous and charming and if the viewer sees this feature with low expectation, he or she might have a pleasant surprise. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Academia de Vampiros: O Beijo das Sombras" ("Vampire Academy: The Shadow Kiss")

Don't watch, just read the books

[gillianpeters14 · 1/10 · 25 June 2014]

I loved the Vampire Books so I was really looking forward to this movie but it was one big disappointment.

The script was pretty chaotic, if you haven't read the books yet you won't understand a thing. I know the books pretty well and even I was confused about which direction the movie was supposed to be heading.

The worst part for me was the acting. When you make a movie based on a book, the least you expect is the actors match the book characters by a bit. And Zoey Deutch is not a good Rose to me. Worst of all, her acting was really poor, she completely fell flat and it was almost painful to watch. The rest of the cast wasn't much better I'm afraid.

I can only say in conclusion, I recommend you not to watch this but to go read a book instead.

Exposition from a VA Series Reader whose not a YA

[lori-918-6014 · 9/10 · 7 February 2014]

I have read all of the VA series and enjoyed them immensely, mainly because of Rose. Rose Hathaway is feisty, determined, funny, and flawed, and it was always fun to see what she would do next and how that would land her in trouble. This story is not your "typical vampire" story. Everyone in the story already knows about vampires and the makeup of the society they live in. Nor is it a damsel in distress story. Rose already possesses strength and determination, although she does have impulse control issues. She is best friends with the vampire princess, Lissa Dragomir who is the last of her line, and extremely loyal and protective of her.

The movie and books have been compared to many other YA/vampire genre, but the story does not follow Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey outline. Both Star Wars and Harry Potter did excellent jobs capturing the hero's journey, and the Twilight series followed Carl Jung's development of the soul and the anima/animus well. Mead does not use either of these outlines/archetypes in her books, and her storytelling provides a freshness, as well as giving a portrayal of strong women who look out for each other.

Perhaps, the story could be compared to "Thelma and Louise" navigate a dysfunctional high school that just happens to have vampires and magic.

Now for the movie itself: the tone and pacing of the movie are very much Rose and are true to the tone and pacing of the books. I actually liked the new scenes that were added to the movie – they did not distract in ways that other book-to-movies have done, but actually enhanced the story. I think the movie represented all the dynamics of the various relationships well, although I do wish the Rose/Dimitri relationship had been better developed. There wasn't the tension between them that there was in the books. And although I wish I could have forgotten the story (and the previews) during the movie so that I could have enjoyed the movie without all that knowledge, I did find myself getting lost in the movie.

Of all the first time movies of various popular YA book-to-movie adaptations that I have read and seen, I think this movie was one of the better ones that has been done.

Movie was okay

[louisapedersen · 6/10 · 14 December 2020]

I have read the books, and read all the bad reviews about this movie before I watched it. Therefore I had NO expectations when I watched it, therefore I wasn't disappointed. Yes it wasn't close to as good as the amazing books, and the acting wasn't good. Although I know that some of these actors are brilliant in other things, which makes me think it's not really the actors fault for their poor acting, but rather the rushed scenes and writing of the scripts. Yes it was very rushed. In the book, each scene is so detailed and long, but here, each scene is very rushed. That's what happens when you make such a great book into a movie. If they made it into a tv series instead, I am sure they would have had more time to show everything, which means it would have been much better! In my opinion, that's what makes the movie seem cheap.

Easily the worst film of 2014 so far

[gregsrants · 1/10 · 9 February 2014]

I had a glimmer of hope for Vampire Academy. The faintest bit of optimism that the film might actually be something that Ender's Game and Beautiful Creatures was not. I knew nothing of the books. Seven in total I am told from my vampire novel-loving partner. But surely it a major studio release couldn't be as bad as the Twilight films. Surely just out of blind luck, a vampire film targeting the tweens might actually be watchable.

Nope.

Vampire Academy not only fails to exploit my flicker of faith but it pulverizes any rational reason as to why the screenplay was greenlit in the first place. A monstrosity of a mess, Vampire Academy is a clear front runner for worst film of 2014.

I could attempt to educate you on the script, but I am not quite sure I understood it all myself. In the first five minutes alone we see a car crash, get introduced to a vampire and her half-vampire/half-human guardian, force fed the supernatural bond between the two, learn that vampires can control the four elements and are given a description as to dhampirs, Morois and Strigoi's. Whew.

Zoey Deutch (looking very much like a young Rose Byrne) plays Rose Hathaway. She is a dhampir who is protecting Princess Vasilisa Dragomir (Lucy Fry) from Stigoi – an evil vampire breed created when a vampire takes a human life. Maybe more evil still are Vasilisa's classmates at the Vampire Academy who resent her return after being in the real world for the past year. It's like Mean Girls with fangs.

There is some sort of plot. Vasilisa is tormented by someone or someones in her school who sacrifice wolves and cats in an attempt to gather her attention. Vasilisa seems less concerned about those trying to kill her than she is about the boys in her school and her desire for acceptance. That brings a few Robert Pattinson look-a-likes into play that add nothing much else to the story than doing just enough to get us to the next DVD chapter without displaying any real character. There is also a love interest for Rose, large wolf dogs, more vampire mythology and Gabriel Byrne trying his best to ensure that he is not overlooked by next year's Razzie nominations.

The screenplay by Daniel Waters is the film's largest obstacle. The dialogue is Aaron Sorkin fast but written with a Uwe Boll sense of direction. Characters talk quickly to each other and then the scene will just cut as if we came to the end of a chapter and the director didn't know how to transition to the next scene with any sense of flow.

Those holding out for strong action scenes to be the glue that holds you between naps can forget about it. Poorly choreographed and uninspiring hijinks are the norm as the film stumbles towards a final shot that suggests a sequel (it will not happen).

Vampire Academy might have worked as a television series. Why not. Dirty Little Liars Meets True Blood on CW. But this mess is easily the worst film of the year. At least until the next Adam Sandler film is released.

Simply Awful!! One of the worst movies I have seen in a while.

[golfgirl15 · 1/10 · 15 February 2014]

When I saw the trailer for this movie I was less than impressed to say the least. I thought it looked cheesy and ridiculous and it turns out the movie was even worse than the preview. I have read every book in this series at least twice. I love them, they are probably some of my favorite books I've ever read. And that makes this review so hard for me to write, but honestly this movie is one of the worst I have ever seen to the point that I created this account to write about how horrible it was. Everything in this movie was cheesy. The writing was cheesy, the acting was cheesy, the special effects were cheesy, and the directing was awful. And on top of all that the movie as a whole made almost no sense. I went to see this with my best friend, she hasn't read the books, and she walked out having no idea what was going on and what the actual plot line was. Even with me reading the books I had an extremely hard time following everything that was going on because they jumped around from different things, they should have just followed the book. Which brings me to another point... they did NOT follow the book like other people have been saying. They brought things in that happened in the third book that had no place being in the first movie. You're not supposed to know what kind of magic Lissa has nor is anyone supposed to know about roses feelings for her instructor. I am so mad that Richelle Mead sold the rights for this movie. I think that if she would've held out for a better director and screenwriter this movie could have been almost as amazing as the books. It was so bad that it almost comes across as a spoof on the whole vampire genre. Overall don't waste your money this movie is far from worth it.

New Franchise in the Making

[stevendbeard · 8 February 2014]

I saw "Vampire Academy", starring Zoey Deutch-Beautiful Creatures, Ringer-t.v., and she is the daughter of Lea Thompson; Lucy Fry-Mako Mermaids-t.v., Lightning Point-t.v.; Danila Kozlovsky-he is a Russian born actor making his first American movie; Sarah Hyland-Modern Family- t.v., Spanglish and Gabriel Byrne-Assault on Precinct 13-2005, End of Days.

This is the newest entry for a franchise series aimed at young adults. It is based on a series of books by Richelle Mead and there are six books in her series. This one is about vampires, like the Twilight series, but it is a little more interesting. In this world, there are three types of vampires. First is the Moroi, who are the good and peaceful, mortal vampires and they live off the blood of volunteer donors-they do not kill. Second is the Dhampir, who are also good but they are half human and half vampire, and they are trained to be protectors of the Moroi. Third is the Strigoi, who are the evil, bloodthirsty, immortal vampires that kill anyone, human or vampire. If a Moroi kills someone, and not just feeds on their blood, they turn into a Strigoi. Oh yeah, there is this academy-Vampire Academy-where the Moroi train to use their abilities to control one of the four elements; air, fire, water or earth. The Dhampir train in their fighting abilities, to protect their personally chosen Moroi. Zoey is the Dhampir chosen to protect Lucy. Danila is Zoey's trainer in the martial arts, and she also happens to think he is cute. Gabriel is the head of a vampire family that runs the academy and Sarah plays his daughter, that also attends the school. The ending is a clear set up for a sequel, so I figure they have high hopes for the box office. It's rated "PG-13" for violence, language and sexual content-no nudity- and has a running time of 1 hour & 44 minutes. I enjoyed it and would buy it on Blu-Ray.

A fast-paced and humorous supernatural romance that works.

[khanbaliq2 · 6/10 · 13 February 2014]

After more than a month of movies that aren't worth seeing I finally had a good time at my local movie theater. Vampire Academy is the first good film of 2014. I, Frankenstein is entertaining fantasy action, but in terms of some quality it's Vampire Academy that's really worth seeing. There's a good cast, there's humor, there's a story that keeps one interested, and there's some action. At first there's some confusion about what's going on. It's because there are different vampires in addition to a setting that needs some description. After that, however, the film keeps entertaining until the end. There are several interesting characters. Zoey Deutch, playing Rosemarie Hathaway, is in the center of things. She's a feisty guardian but a loyal friend. Lucy Fry, playing Vasilisa Dragomir, is perfect as the girl with the royal blood. There's a growing love affair between her and Christian Ozera (Dominic Sherwood), but the more intriguing romance is the one between Rosemarie and Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky). Friendship and romance aren't the central themes here though. The dangerous hierarchy of St. Vladimir's Academy is what Rosemarie and Vasilisa have to deal with. It's a good look at the struggles to gain social status in high school. The girls are tough but they still have to survive. This film adaptation of Richelle Mead's best-selling novel is definitely more interesting than Twilight (2008). Deutch had a part in Beautiful Creatures (2013), a film that I also liked. If you haven't seen Beautiful Creatures then see it. I recommend Vampire Academy too.

A witless slog of events and emotionless dialog

[StevePulaski · 3/10 · 21 May 2014]

I'm a firm believer in an entering every film I watch with an open mind, regardless of whether or not it's regarded as one of the greatest films of all time or is one of the worst reviewed films ever made. Contrary to the idea that people think I enter some films more contentiously than others, what purpose is their for me to walk into a film with the mentality to dislike it? That's a waste of my precious time and money. I'll voice my expectations based on the trailer and promotional details that I see, but when it comes time to walk down the lengthy theater aisles to find a seat, press play on the DVD, or hit "confirm purchase" on Pay-Per-View, you can bet I'm ready to be entertained and spend my next hour and a half or two hours enjoying what I'm viewing.

With that being said, upon sitting through the first ten minutes of Vampire Academy, the latest teen movie that clearly had hopes of becoming the next big young adult franchise but fell well short of expectations, it was hard to maintain optimism much longer, but I tried. By thirty minutes, I was lost in the film's wooden dialog and variety of underdeveloped subplots, and by the hour mark, it was a struggle to stay awake. This is not only one of the worst films of 2014 just because of the fact that it takes a potentially interesting subject that could've been made to house some hilarious satire on teenagers and makes the material about as bland as a day-old bowl of oatmeal.

The film concerns a seventeen-year-old human/vampire hybrid (also known as a "Dhampir") Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) and her friend Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), who is a peaceful, mortal vampire (also known as a "Moroi"). The two escaped from their boarding school two years prior to where we see them now and are trying to live in our world as peacefully and as nonchalantly as they can. By a twisted turn of events, they are brought back to the Academy and realize that the vampire academy they left doesn't seem so different from the regular high school experience, with rumors, backstabbing, lies, cheating, and so on all taking place as prevalently as ever. While trying to combat these malevolent forces, Rose also finds herself attracted to her Dhampir mentor by the name of Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky).

Such a premise - on paper - sounds as if it is establishing the building blocks for a wickedly funny and relevant satire on teenage convention; almost like a Mean Girls for a more artistic or mainstream crowd. However, it's a true shame that writer Daniel Waters sells the material short (or, given that it's based off a book, maybe it's not entirely his fault and he's staying true to source material) and concocts a dreary and overlong soap-opera that feels like Dark Shadows without half the wit or character-interest. In addition, Daniel Waters juggles so many different subplots here and characters, that all maintain the depth of the shallow end of the swimming pool, that it's easy to get lost in the shuffle of "Dhampirs" and "Morois" and other such trivial nonsense.

Then there's the fact that the film is just not funny to boot. There's nothing worse than a bad movie than a bad movie that is boring and not funny. Vampire Academy runs for only one-hundred and four minutes which, when watching a fantastic film like Inside Llewyn Davis races past, feels like twice that length in this case. Dialog just exists, not really to spark a laugh or make the audience think, but similar to the dialog on loathsome daytime soap operas where it simply exists to exist.

One trend I'm tiring of with Hollywood and it's manufactured teen films, giving us what they assume we like rather than what we want is that for every great film we get that deals with teens (The First Time, Mean Girls, or Pitch Perfect to name a few) and growing up and fitting in, we must endure several lackluster ones, many of which trying to assemble new franchises with the worst possible products bearing the worst marketing campaigns (The Host and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones) come to mind.

Vampire Academy was directed by writer Daniel Waters' brother Mark, who's career has been an up-and-down affair with directorial projects like Freaky Friday and Mr. Popper's Penguins popping up in there alongside the ingenuous and honest film Mean Girls, that every teenage girl in suburbia seems to treasure. Even those can quote Mean Girls like a Christian can quote Bible verses wouldn't bat their eyelashes at Vampire Academy, and for once, I don't plan on calling out their opposition or their ignorance.

Starring: Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, and Dimitri Kozlovsky. Directed by: Mark Waters.

Haven't read the book, but might.

[crabtee · 7/10 · 14 February 2014]

I haven't read the book because after Twilight, I was so over the vampire trend. But I went to watch it anyway because the final trailer looked good and I always try and watch book based movies. I was surprised because it was actually good. To me it was. I'm not a critic. But for someone who isn't a fan of the books and haven't read them, I actually liked it. There was the usual cheesy lines and the love story, though there wasn't much of it. The romance, honestly, was downplayed. It wasn't the center of the story. And I am so okay with it. Plus points for the vampire puns. Plus Rose was actually a likable heroine. She's weak at some parts, but strong enough to kick ass. She's also sarcastic that it gets annoying at times, especially the voice overs, but the snark is funny enough that it's easy to ignore it.

Read the Book the movie blows!

[didnt_doit4u · 3/10 · 20 June 2014]

Really the book is much much 100% better. The movie was awful, choppy crap casting. I realize you can't put everything from a book in a movie but seriously this movie was choppy at best no smooth flow. Why did you have to muck the movie up this badly? Rose was supposed to be beautiful, curvy, Turkish decent, sassy. This movie made here seem weak and in the books she was not weak. Lissa was supposed to be charismatic and lovable/likable. The actress didn't pull that off. Dimitri was supposed to be a Godlike guardian that liked to read western novels. Missed the mark there. Bad movie makers bad naughty shame on you They suck at school and you suck at movies. ---Le sigh

Movie Review from Must Read Before You Die

[nrdpura · 6/10 · 9 February 2014]

Saw VAMPIRE ACADEMY last night!! So awesome that Richelle Mead's work is on the big screen! By the end of it though, I had slim hopes that this is going to make it into all 6 movies if they do one book per movie. Yeah, I guess vampires are in right now and while Vampire Academy was such a great read, I don't see how people who haven't read the books are going to see if for the awesomeness that it is.

Everything was jammed pack. My bf who hadn't read the books said it felt like things were going way too fast. There were a lot of things they were trying to fit in there and he could tell many things were probably lost in the movie that happened in the book. It's been a couple of years since I read the first book and there were things happening in the movie where I just wondered, How did they come up with that? I was disappointed that Rose wasn't as bad ass in the fighting department but I'm probably remembering the Rose she turns out to be :) Overall, I do like the actresses who played Rose and Lisa. Rose is hot and she does look like she can kick some ass... eventually. Lisa is cute and sweet.

What I didn't like is Danila Kozlovsky who played Dimitri. I wish he didn't look so old and wanted him to have a muscular slim frame. But the worst is his face - just not attractive to me at all.. whhhyyyyyy did this happen?!?! So I looked up Danila online for more pics of him and he's got some good looking pics out there! Why didn't he look like THAT in the movie?! I hope if there's a second movie, they do something with his hair to bring out his hotness.

Now Dominic Sherwood as Christian - hubba hubba! That's what I'm talking about people!! :) :) :) I really enjoyed this movie a lot. It made me laugh and I loved seeing this set of literary characters on the big screen. I hope there is enough interest in it from the public to make it into 5 more movies. Very cool that lots of my favorite books are coming out soon. I saw a preview for The Fault in Our Stars and will definitely be watching that one. Also looking forward to Divergent!

It sucked alright...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 1 May 2014]

Clearly I wasn't in the target audience for "Vampire Academy". This movie is clearly aimed at a young audience who is still starstruck because of "Twilight" and seeing vampires as something of a pop culture phenomena.

The story is about vampires - well, sort of in the sense that they need blood to stay alive. There are two species of these blood-drinkers, one good, one bad (duh!). Having run away from the vampire academy, the princess of vampires is living in the mortal world with her dhampir protector. But the people from the academy soon catch up with them, and they have to go back to the academy. But a war is brewing and a conflict is lurking on the sunless horizon.

Storywise, then I guess "Vampire Academy" was adequate if you are in the particular target audience. I, however, found it to be laughable and stupid.

The effects in the movie were good, I will say that much. But it just didn't cut it enough to lift up the movie for me.

As for the people on the cast list, well, people were doing good jobs with their given roles.

"Vampire Academy" is another addition to the teenage vampire fanatic wave that was sparked with "Twilight", despite the movie even throwing a punch at the sparkly vampires in "Twilight".

If you are a teenage girl, then by all means go for this movie. Otherwise, it is not really worth the time and effort.

Well Done

[dogtag0611 · 8/10 · 9 February 2014]

I first want to say that I love the books and I have been a fan for about 7 years now. I was apprehensive when I saw the trailer. I was not very impressed and I was disappointed but I saw the movie anyway.

When I fist saw who the cast was I was very unsure. I did like Zoey for Rose from the start, but I did not quite like the others. After watching interviews and stills of the cast I warmed up to Danila (Dimitri). I did not think Lucy fit the part for Lissa but after watching the movie I believe she did a good job. I was pleasantly surprised. I tried not to compare the cast to what I had imagined because they could never live up to the characters we, the fans, create and picture in our heads. After I got over this I really enjoyed how they portrayed the characters.

I had heard that the movie was really close to the book before I saw it. The movie is close to the book, but the scenes are shifted. The sequence is out of order slightly compared to the book. Such as a scene that happened in the end of the book is in the beginning of the movie. There are also quite a few scenes added, mostly action. Some of the scenes where very nice and others were kind of confusing and could have been left out. I absolutely loved one of the ending scenes between Rose and Dimitri that was added. I would have loved to have read that in the book.

Cons: The movie was very fast paced and it really did not work too well. A lot of the scenes where rushed and transitions were fast. I feel as though it should have been slowed down a bit and the characters more developed. The book had a lot of information and almost every detail was important so I can understand why it is fast paced.

Pros: I loved how well Zoey did Rose's sarcasm and hot temper. I think she did well and got her spot on most of the time. Danila and Zoey had pretty good chemistry and worked well together, which is pretty important. I don't believe his character was spot on but it worked for the movie. Plus his rather shy smiles were adorable. The action scenes were cool and entertaining. I also enjoyed the way the school was designed, it was Gothic and still had a modern high-tech touch to it.

One of the main reasons that I love these books (and the movie) is Rose's strong character, her loyalty and passion. She is not a damsel in distress, she is constantly growing but she also knows when to ask for help. We don't see strong women in books much, and when they are they depend so much on the male romantic figure. Rose has a perfect balance of all these. She loves Lissa so much and would do anything to help and protect her, which is what the books are mainly about. It really bugs me when others compare this story to Twilight and other vampire movies. They are not the same and the only thing they have in common is that there are vampires (which they don't even call them that).

I think the movie was great and there is room for improvement but I enjoyed it all the same. I really hope others can see past the flaws, because everything and everyone has flaws. I would watch the movie again and again.

I would give the movie a 7.5 rating.

Great new twist in the vampire genera

[ldickinson-1 · 7/10 · 31 May 2014]

Loved this movie. It is a kind of 'Who's going to do it' written in the style of a 'Who dun it'. Lots of plot twists and turns and fun trying to figure out who's who. Complete with red herrings. Don't blink or you'll miss clues. Honestly, most of the writers who gave it bad reviews admitted that they didn't understand the plot. You don't need to read the books to follow because I've never read the books and I had a ball. Be warned you can't sit back in this movie; you have to stay alert if you want to get the full entertainment value. A great thrill ride getting to the end and 'oh my gosh'does this movie ever need a sequel.

I like the casting. Zoey Deutch and Lucy Fry had good chemistry. For a movie made to be a little over the top all the acting stuck pretty much to the parameters of the film so no complaints in that department.

This movie was made to be fun and it delivered.

It went too fast, way fast. Probably wont be a sequel

[biyanbayyinah · 1/10 · 22 March 2014]

I'm a hardcore fan of this book, and when I watch the movie I was like seriously?, all those scenes were too fast. and honestly, Mark Waters is my favorite director, I love Mean Girls, and freaky Friday, and stuff. But this isn't even in the same level with mean girls. And the jokes were awful, this isn't even a comedy, this isn't even an action, and this isn't even a romance. they just failed it. If they keep making VA like this, the sequel will be just as plain as this one. I'm sorry saying this, I know our perspectives are different, but this is definitely one of the bad movies of the year, if you don't see that, then you don't watch enough movies in your whole life. I'm 110% a fan of the book, but the movie... is just disappointing. But like the ending cause it's the only thing that they made it right.