Book vs Movie: "Vampire Academy"

I rented the Vampire Academy movie from Redbox over the weekend and thought it would be fun to do another Book vs Movie special. I enjoyed the books quite a bit, some more than others, and actually like the Bloodlines spinoff series a LOT more. Sydney has really grown on me and Adrian is still way hotter than Dimitri. (Sorry sorry! I know I'm in the minority!) Okay, I have already gotten off topic so let's get back to the movie. Oh! If you haven't read at least the first book yet, you might want to stop here because there will be spoilers!

I had my doubts about this movie from the first trailer. It looked very cheesy and over-the-top Mean Girls meets Twilight-esque. And well, it was. But I still liked it, for the most part. I thought they did a good job of explaining the world in the beginning to those who haven't read the books. It can be very confusing at first. I realized I have been saying "Moroi" wrong in my head all this time. I've been saying "mor-eye", but duh, makes sense to rhyme it with "Strigoi", which I was pronouncing correctly. (Don't you hate when you've been reading 9 books in a series and suddenly realize you mispronounced a main word? Just me?) I thought the beginning was a little rushed, they kind of just threw us in the middle of a story, but it was like that in the book too, wasn't it? It's been a while since I've read those, but I think the movie stayed very true to the book. What do you think? Did they leave out any major parts that you wanted to see?

Okay, so yes, the plot was fine, as good as the book. Now let's talk about the actors. (I'm not going to bother looking up all their real names.) Rose was pretty close to what I expected, maybe a little curvier/sexier in the books. Her voice was kind of annoying at first but I got used to it and she had the sarcastic one-liners down perfect. Lissa was kind of meh to me. But then, I didn't really like her in the books that much either. And Dimitri? Well, you know I'm more Team Adrian so...I just didn't like him that much. He looked too old, first of all. (Although the actor was probably only 27-28 while filming.) He blended in with the other Guardians for the first 30 minutes or so. I will say though that the scene with the necklace spell was pretty hot. ;) Christian was perfectly dark and moody, but loving to Lissa. Mason was not what I expected but I liked it. Natalie was good, although she had red hair in the graphic novel.  (Not sure if this movie poster is fan made or not, but I like it a lot better than the originals!)

Finally, let's talk about the Strigoi. You know I had issues with how they were represented in the graphic novel. Well, at least they weren't blue like in the movie! What was that about? Yeah, he's the undead and doesn't get a lot of sun, but would it kill him (get it? kill?) to put a little bronzer on?? They were just so over-the-top Evil Vampire it wasn't even funny. Bah.

So, after all that, will I watch the next ones if they're made? Yes, because ADRIAN. :) And should you watch this one? Yes, if you loved the books. It was nice to see it come to life. No, if you haven't read the books or didn't enjoy them that much.