Vampire Academy 2014

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Not only plays like the crassest possible mashup of "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" elements, but seems designed to make those franchises look like eternal monuments of world culture by comparison. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: If a supernatural teen film ever required CliffsNotes, it would be this one. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: This attempt to capture the magic of the "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" franchises tries too hard to pack all the backstory and borrowings into one film. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This is a garbage heap of weak quips, delivered by an assortment of pretty boys and girls and amped up with some cheesy moments of animal cruelty. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: For smart, strong girls, and the guys who like them, Vampire Academy will hit a vein. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It's "Twilight" as directed by Mark Waters, of "Mean Girls." It's an idea that might have been intriguing 15 years ago, before those movies existed. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: For the target audience - teen girls likely to spend as much time gossiping in the theater lobby as they are to actually watch the movie - "Vampire Academy" is pure catnip. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: [Mr. Waters] doesn't seem especially interested in the supernatural parts of "Vampire Academy," and he clearly didn't have the budget to make what little hocus-pocus there is magical. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: One idea, mixed with lame jokes, and stretched beyond coherence. Vampire Academy doesn't need a review. It needs a stake in the heart. Read more

Todd Gilchrist, TheWrap: Ultimately more "Meaningless" than "Mean Girls," "Vampire Academy" is a busy, overcomplicated empowerment fantasy with more hormones than brain cells. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: The only thing that distinguishes this teen-magnet wannabe from its predecessors is how lazily it appears to have been slapped together. Read more