'Vampire Academy' movie news: The first trailer is here

I'm officially uncool. I had absolutely zero idea that a Vampire Academy movie was in the works. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the first trailer for the film was just released (thank you, screaming niece, for keeping me in the loop). Like the Beautiful Creatures books, I've also read several of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy YA books and I actually liked them more than the Twilight series. Still, I was clueless that the story was slated to make the leap to the big screen.

Having just seen the trailer for Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters, I must say: Hollywood has sucked the life out of the whole vampire theme. I've had enough. This one, sadly, looks super lame. The casting seems wrong somehow. Usually when these kinds of YA books are adapted to film, the characters at least somewhat resemble what I think they look like in my head when I'm reading. Not in the case of Vampire Academy.

Here is the teaser trailer for Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters, so see for yourself:

VAMPIRE ACADEMY: BLOOD SISTERS - Official Trailer (2014) [HD]

Any Vamp Academy book fans out there want to set me straight? Do you think I'm totally wrong in saying that Rose doesn't look like Rose and Lissa barely looks the way Lissa should look? Ugh. I'm not happy about this. Even the screaming niece is unhappy, for the record. Her reaction was far more dramatic than mine, of course, and filled with angst ("They've ruined everything! Why! Why! Whyyyyyyyy!"). Ah, to be young again. I predict she makes a full recovery from this latest trauma in a matter of hours.

If you aren't familiar with Vamprie Academy, here's a quick rundown: Rose Hathaway is the heroine of the first few books. She's half vampire and half human - what's called a Dhampir. Rose attends St. Vladimir's Academy, a boarding school where Dhampir and Moroi (true vampires) are educated. It's like a Hogwarts for blood suckers, basically.

Rose's bestie is the Moroi Queen, Lissa, and she and her people are under seige by evil vampires (the Strigoli). As a Dhampir, Rose has to protect Lissa from harm. Oh and Rose is also kind of in love with her instructor, the super hot and mysterious Dimitri Belikov. He doesn't sparkle, just in case you were wondering. So now you know, right? You're so welcome.

Back to the trailer now: The casting just seems so funky. Zoey Deutch is a beautiful girl but she doesn't seem to have that hard edge that I expected from Rose. Lucy Fry, at least, has Lissa's blonde hair. And I haven't seen enough of Danila Kozlovsky as Dimitri to make a fair assessment yet. After so many great books flop on screen, I'm probably too pessimistic. Maybe this will be great.

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters is set for release in February of 2014, so we have plenty of time to discuss the film and pick apart trailers and clips between now and then. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments, fans!

Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Movies