Vampire Academy Summary (from IMDb): 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.Book Review: Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1)
Book to Movie Review:
Vampire Academy was good! I wasn’t sure based on the previews what kind of movie it would be. It looked like it would be cheesy, funny, and immature like Mean Girls, but I was surprised by how well it balanced those elements with the more serious themes and action. It was thoroughly entertaining. The movie was full of action, suspense, high school drama, vampire politics, and fun.
The first Vampire Academy book was kind of.. meh, so I really wasn’t sure I would see the movie in theaters and I didn't have very high hopes for it. I thought Zoey Deutch would make a great Rose, but I wasn’t Rose’s biggest fan until halfway through the series. I was right about the actress making a great Rose and I was very happy to see that Rose’s character was a lot more mature than I remembered in the book. She was more like the Rose I love in later installments, but perhaps that’s because I wasn’t in her head listening to her!
While Vampire Academy has always felt more “teenager-y” than most of the YA novels and movie adaptations I love, my favorite thing about the movie was how it didn’t really come across all that cheesy. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, which was unexpected.
I thought the movie did a good job of being relatively true to the book, too, as far as the plot went, so fans of the series should be pleased with the adaptation. I loved all of the actors who portrayed the main characters. I thought it was really awesome to see the Strigoi vampires come to life and be all red eyed and creepy, too. I loved the way the movie portrayed the bond between Rose and Lissa, especially in the moments where Rose experiences whatever Lissa is seeing.
I see a lot of nonbookish reviews that compare Vampire Academy to Twilight mixed with Harry Potter, which kind of irks me. I mean, sure, there are vampires and a boarding school, but that's kind of it as far as comparisons go. It's not depressing or super romance focused, like Twilight, nor does it lean on the more serious, in depth sort of experience that is Harry Potter. It's a lot more lightweight, fun, and refreshing. The heroine, other guardians, and some of the Moroi are kick ass, the overall mood is light, despite the pending danger, and Rose is snarky and sarcastic.
On a side note: I totally get it when critics want to compare all YA adaptations to all other YA adaptations, but it really bothers me how often Twilight gets thrown into the mix whenever there are vampires, relationships, or anything remotely supernatural. I mean, as much as people seem to hate Twilight and they just want it to go away in pop culture, it seems they are the ones who bring it up every time anything could ever compare to it in the most miniscule way. It's so ridiculous.
Bottom Line: Vampire Academy was extremely entertaining.
