‘Vampire Academy’ has surprisingly good bite
Special effects lack fangs, but star Zoey Deutch shines in this adaptation of the popular young adult novel.
Take a "Twilight" plot, stick it in a "Harry Potter" setting and add a thick glaze of self-aware sarcasm and you've just enrolled in "Vampire Academy."
From the director of "Mean Girls" and the writer of "Heathers" (as the posters are quick to remind moviegoers) this latest young adult book series to come to the screen has a ludicrous mythology and complex, chatter-heavy plotline, but it is redeemed, mostly, by a zing-heavy script and a breakout lead performance from Ellen Page-esque newcomer Zoey Deutch.
Compared to recent, similar fare like "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" and
"Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters," "Vampire Academy" has much more bite.
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The family line for the teenage flick “Vampire Academy” may trace back to“Dracula,” but the recycling policy is strictly from “Frankenstein.” Directed by Mark Waters and written by Daniel Waters, his brother, this genre rehash takes a helping of “Harry Potter,” a measure of “Mean Girls” and elements from various teenage adventures, monster movies and queen-bee stories and recombines the borrowed parts into an unsurprisingly familiar tale. What is surprising is that while the patchwork whole creaks terribly in places, the parts also show signs of life.
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Livelier and more amusing than its studio's advance-screening ban suggested, "Vampire Academy," based on the bestselling tween book series by Richelle Mead, should largely satisfy fans of the seemingly unkillable parade of hot-young-vampire tales.
That said, this likable comedic-thriller is something of a narrative mishmash as the script by Daniel Waters ("Heathers") continually strains to explain — and then make good on — the dense ins and outs of Mead's secret society of good and bad vampires.
To that end, there are apparently three kinds of vamps: the mortal, peaceful Moroi; the Dhampirs, which are the Moroi's half-vampire/half-human guardians; and the Strigoi, your standard issue evil, undead bloodsuckers. There's more that distinguishes each tribe, particularly where the supply and demand of blood is concerned, but too much description here may only confuse what's already confusing.
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