Vampire Academy

Apparently director Mark Waters and his brother, scriptwriter Daniel Waters, know how to mix — and mess — things up.

“Vampire Academy” is served like a farrago with all the ingredients from “Twilight,” “Harry Potter” and “Mean Girls” all boiled together. But the Waters boys use 104 minutes to show everyone that things that have been slowly simmering do not always taste the most satisfying.

Based on author Richelle Mead’s bestselling young-adult series, “Vampire Academy” presents the story of two girls. Rose Hathaway, played by Zoey Deutch, is a half human-half vampire guardian, or Dhampir, in training. She is the best friend of a Moroi, a peaceful and mortal vampire, princess, Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry). The two girls are sent back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, the hidden boarding school for their species.

Lissa aims to become the queen-bee and reclaim her status while Rose tries her best to protect the princess from the Strigoi, immortal and villain vampires.

Although the scriptwriter tries hard to capture the magic of “Harry Potter” and “Twilight,” he packs together too much borrowed material with no cohesion, which makes the story a heap of loose sand. It seems the more backstories Waters wants to blend, the more they cannibalize each other.

Ironically, when Waters puts forth the effort to mix the magic of other films, he somehow forgets the magic of his own. He doesn’t manage to polish the “abracadabra” factor in the film, or maybe he simply didn’t have the budget for special effects. Either way, it makes for a buzz killer of a science and fantasy film.

Fortunately, not every aspect of “Vampire Academy” is a rehash. Detached from typical vampire characterization, the Moroi are shaped in a modern image. They can walk in the sun with a nice umbrella and satisfy their need for blood by drinking human volunteers’ blood in a lounge, which is more like a vampire’s version of Starbucks. In case you want to compare these vampires to the Cullens, they do not sparkle.

The film’s palette is full of rich darkness — the classic tone of a vampire movie — and the director cherry-picks the vampire’s peculiarities.

Therefore, the film still showcases fangs, blood and, of course, their destructive hormones.

Deutch’s electrifying performance enriches her role as the responsible guardian. She oozes the warmth and the rebel of a guardian and best friend of a princess.

The film’s pace, punctuated by violence, doesn’t seem rapid because of the buffering of loose plot.

The impulsive fight scenes and off-kilter composition leave the audience — especially young, vampire wannabes — with a disorienting sense of being immersed in the characters’ lives.

Thus “Vampire Academy” becomes an amalgam of corny genres and youthful
impulses — part stereotype, part adaption, part chopped narratives and part evocative performances.

It seems the result of this “mixed stew” depends on personal taste. Bon appetit.