‘Vampire Academy’ is here to the delight of fans of Richelle Mead’s book series, and to the disdain of most critics.
Being the kind of film that it is, it was never going to be a classic to be preserved for the ages, but what it does deliver will be an enjoyable 104 minutes for its target audience. 'Vampire Academy' is based on a six-part book series with a fair amount of mythology to cover off, which would make the movie feel a bit like an information dump if you don’t already know the backstory. We follow Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) who is a Dhampir (half human, half vampire) and Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry) who is a Moroi (good vampire) princess and Rose's best friend and sworn charge. Then there are Strigoi, the bad ones, and a host of different cultural rules and processes that the audience has to process so that the movie can set up for later sequels.
It sometimes feels confusing, and often feels like you’re watching 'Harry Potter' gone wrong, but if you can stick with it, the film does have its highlights. Zoey Deutch is a delight to watch, giving a very natural and understated performance as the lead Rose Hathaway.
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The rest of the cast isn’t bad, just adequate, and more than once I felt myself cringing a bit at Lucy Fry. Being directed by Mark Waters ('Mean Girls') was definitely a boost for the film, and you can see where his approach has taken what could have been a dismal film into the realm of okay. It’s more comedic than I expected, but unfortunately, it also has enough cringe-worthy dialogue and predictability to take away from some of its better parts.
In all, it was enjoyable enough to breeze through two hours or so, and I’m sure fans of the books will go crazy for it.
'Vampire Academy' is in cinemas now.
