Book vs. Movie: "Vampire Academy"

By Sara E Thompto

I started off buying "Vampire Academy" on a whim. I saw the trailer for the movie, and quite honestly was not impressed. But, I wanted a quick, easy read and tend to like books that become movies so I thought “why not” and gave it a go.

What happened next? Well, it certainly didn’t fit my expectations and, although it was a fairly easy read, it wasn’t as quick as I had wanted. I fell into the rabbit hole; into the world where magic and vampires live, which author, Richelle Mead, painted quite beautifully. I came out on the other side, seven days later, having consumed all six books in the "Vampire Academy" series stunned at the world I had just experienced.

The Book

The first "Vampire Academy" book follows Rose Hathaway, dhampire (half vampire, half human) who is a novice guardian for the Moroi (magical “good” vampires). Particularly she is the guardian-in-training for her friend, Lissa, otherwise known as Princess Vasilisa Dragomir, the last vampire of her bloodline, which happens to be one of 12 royal bloodlines in their vampire world.

The book starts as they come back to St. Vladimir's Academy, an academy for Vampires, after two years on the run. St. Vladimir's not only trains novice guardians in combat and moroi in honing their magic, but also offers protection from the third type of Vampire, the evil Vampire species known as the Strigoi. Everyone wants to know why the two girls would run off the in first place, since St. Vladimir's is meant to keep them safe from the outside world. But, that’s just one of the mysteries that center around the girls in the first book.

Not to mention, Rose and Lissa have to deal with trying to hide a secret magic no one else seems to possess but Lissa, or the fact Rose can't seem to hold back from any fight, whether vocal or physical. Plus, in the end, these two girls are teenagers, which can be a real struggle in and of itself.

For me personally this was the first storyline I read with a strong female lead where it presented her as completely competent and able to handle herself, both physically and mentally. Rose is another Katniss Everdeen, but in another world where she also gets to be a teenage girl. It’s not all about “trying to get the guy” though there is definitely a romantic storyline in the series that grows as the series continues. This first book, however, mainly focuses on friendship, self control, and Rose learning to become a bad-ass guardian-in-training.

After finishing the entire series I could hardly wait to watch the movie, no matter how unimpressive the movie trailer was.

Unfortunately, the unimpressive trailer was a fairly accurate depiction of what to expect from the movie.

Here is why…

The Movie

The first major flaw in this movie was the awful casting. The only character who was spot on was Rose (Zoey Duetch), while almost every other character in the movie didn’t fit the description in the book what-so-ever. At times the poor acting and bad casting choices were so distracting it took away from the plot, which is disappointing since the intricate plot was not so intricate in the movie.

Yes, the movie did follow the same storyline, for the most part, but not a single storyline was fully explored as it was in the book. This left each of the side stories and even the main mystery needing more substance. It’s almost as though one needs to read the books in order to get the full meaning of what is going on. I understand that sometimes scenes in movies need to be skated over, or that bits and pieces need to be cut out all together so the production can fit into a 2 hour time slot. However, some of the most important scenes in this movie were so rushed, they just became confusing or hard to watch. Or, worse, not memorable enough to help connect the pieces later in the movie.

The one thing the movie did do right was keep Rose as independent and strong, though not quite to the point as the book depicted.  

Although I do wish the best for the "Vampire Academy" franchise and hope the movies continue (and hopefully improve with better acting, better special effects, and perhaps better directing along the way) I can’t say I would recommend this movie to anyone right now. I would suggest waiting for it to appear in redbox, and use the rest of your money to run out and buy the book (or all six). Because the books are definitely worth your time and money. The movie - not so much.