Sharpen your silver stakes and prepare for a wild ride. Deep in the Montana Mountains is a special academy where students learn elemental magic and train to fight off immortal enemies. Two types of students attend this school: the moroi and dhampirs. Moroi are the good vampires who feed off blood, but they are in no way immortal. They are able to use elemental magic, and though the sunlight will weaken them, it will not kill them.
Dhampirs are the moroi’s halfhuman, half-moroi guardians. Their training makes dhampirs lethal and once they graduate, each moroi is assigned a dhampir guardian. Then, there are the strigoi: the evil vampires, vampires that are the cause of nightmares and terrors. The strigoi only want one thing: moroi blood and death.
Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch), a dhampir girl, shares a special bond with her best friend, Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), who is a moroi princess. After running away from Saint Vladimir’s Academy a year ago, the school’s guardians led by Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky) have finally tracked the two girls down and forcibly brought them back to the academy. Now that she’s back at the academy, Lissa is being threatened by notes and dead animals, which everyone believes are just school pranks. But are they? Rose is not so sure. While Lissa struggles to fit back into the social life of high school, Rose is being trained by her new mentor, Dimitri, to fight so she will be better able to protect Lissa. Together with Dimitri and Lissa’s new love interest Christian Ozera (Dominic Sherwood), Rose searches for the answers to these mysterious threats against Lissa. Who could be behind this? Who wants the princess dead?
“Vampire Academy” is based off the book written by Richelle Mead. A fan’s biggest fear is that the movie will destroy the book they love so much. For “Vampire Academy,” fans have nothing to worry about. Are there some differences from the book? Yes, there is always something, but all of the important plot points and characters are present.
The filmmakers took this lovable book and created the perfect movie version. A book’s pace and a movie’s pace are going to be different. Authors have more freedom with the written text, but when it comes to the visual effects of movies, there is less flexibility. These moviemakers were able to take the core of the story and stay as close to the book as possible, while still creating an enjoyable film.
Each role was perfectly cast, as well. Deutch is formally known for her role as Emily in last year’s “Beautiful Creatures.” She is able to pull off all of Rose’s sarcastic lines perfectly as the tough girl who was the top of her class and whose anger terrifies everyone. Kozlovsky, a famous Russian actor, perfectly captures Dimitri’s quiet, reserved but caring nature while being the best guardian (the students refer to him as a god). Both Deutch and Kozlovsky capture their characters’ abilities to be light-hearted while training, and they also do an excellent job playing two people who love each other, but have to hide their feelings.
Fry shines in her role as Lissa, princess of the vampire race. She accurately captures Lissa’s emotions of trying to fit in while being threatened. Deutch and Fry portray Rose and Lissa’s close friendship that can never been broken. Sherwood portrays Christian’s sarcasm and moodiness with ease. Both Sherwood and Fry are able to capture Christian and Lissa’s rocky start, ending with a strong relationship.
For people who have not read the books, this movie will still be just as enjoyable. From the director of “Mean Girls” comes a fast paced, action filled, romantic and humorous story about a deep friendship. As a huge fan of the series and an avid moviegoer, I give this movie four and a half stars. Both as a book to movie adaption and a movie by itself, this movie succeeds.
