Review of Vampire Academy (2014) by Jennifer G — 13 Feb 2014

Going in as a huge fan of the series but also as a film lover I came out feeling rather "eh"about the film as a whole. The film felt very static and safe in terms of mood, visuals and storytelling due to the writing, editing and cinematography. The story never really found it's emotional arc and anchor for the audience to connect with and there were many missed opportunities with camerawork and editing to get the audience into the character's experiences and the world. It was also choppy and rushed trying to squeeze everything into an hour and a half, which seems short for these days anyways.

Like other reviews have said, there is far too much exposition in the dialogue over actual visual storytelling and it's often repeated plot points. I thought the casting was fine, but I feel like there was lots more potential for everyone as a whole, especially Dimitri's character (Danila Kozlovsky) who feels tacked on without much purpose ("hot love interest syndrome").

The dialogue felt like "robotic explanation" instead of emotional and intuitive lines. The emotional connection to the characters just wasn't there and personally I felt that connecting to the grief of loss of Lissa and her family's tragedy would have greatly helped to establish that deeper bond with Rose as a whole. The unbreakable friendship through dark times could and probably should have been the emotional arc audiences needed to connect to the film.

More often than not I found myself laughing at the jokes instead of with them, and the use of "forth-wall" whether intentional or not, hurt them.

I've been a big supporter of the series and the movie since the start, hoping for "buffy like storytelling, but with a mean girls flare", but in the end it felt like a safe and sadly forgettable YA film adaptation. But I must finish with positive note of the original source material. If you were intrigued by the film, definitely read the books because they are a really funny, dark and fresh look into Supernatural YA vampire franchise and rightfully deserved their place in the top level of your book shelves.