Review of Vampire Academy (2014) by Tony P — 15 Feb 2014

I should probably start out by saying, yes, I am a huge fan of the books (Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead), and yes, reading the first novel beforehand DOES help when watching this movie. But that doesn't mean this is a terrible movie. On the contrary, it's one of the better teenaged movies I've seen in a while! The writing is very much in tone with the novels - moments of darkness, with humor from our leading ladies - and the actors did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life. Zoey and Lucy are a fantastic pair together, and their friendship comes off in the film; Danila is also a very good actor, although I did find him hard to understand sometimes (always during action scenes, when I could just watch his body instead).

While, yes, this is another "vampire" movie, it's actually more of a movie about friendship and empowered females. There's also a bit of blood, kicking butt, and magic, but that only adds to this film. I definitely seeing it once, then twice, and then at least a third time. Even more if you're smart.