“Every great thing starts out a little scary.“ – Nicholas Hoult as R
What’s good: A fresh angle on romantic comedies that offers some good laughs.
What’s not good: Goofy at best love story that’s too silly to get into.
What happened: Love can make you do some really crazy things. Risking your life and suffering through embarrassing moments have all been done in the name of love. However, can it make you fall for a flesh eating zombie? “Warm Bodies” proves that apparently anything is possible.
R (Nicholas Hoult) is an extremely unusual zombie. Yeah he wants to viciously rip out your brain, but at least he’s conflicted about it. He is very much the typical teenager despite the fact that he’s dead. R fantasizes about girls constantly and spends long hours listening to music. He wants to be human again, but is trapped inside his own decaying body. Almost everything he once was has now become a distant memory. R has no idea that he is about to dramatically change the world just by following his heart.
Julie’s (Teresa Palmer) once perfect life was destroyed by the zombie apocalypse. She is a survivor who knows how to take care of herself. Her father Grigio (John Malkovich) is hell bent on the destruction of all zombies after what they took from him. Julie’s boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco) has also suffered greatly and is determined to prove himself on his first mission. This simple plan quickly goes awry when a zombie herd approaches. R keeps Julie safe and an uneasy alliance soon turns into a peculiar love affair. Shocking consequences arise from their romance that some cannot accept. R and Julie have created a war and must reveal their secret before it’s too late.
“Warm Bodies” offers a mixed bag of amusing moments alongside laughably bad ones. This film is unique mainly because it is told from the zombie perspective as R narrates throughout. Nicholas Hoult does a decent job and is pretty funny. The one laugh out loud moment took place when R ‘talked’ to his friend about Julie. It was short yet absolutely hilarious. The romance between R and Julie makes this the first zombie romantic comedy ever. Make sure to check out the subtle references to Romeo and Juliet. Inevitably, no movie is without flaws and this one has plenty. First, it was odd how quickly Julie got over her boyfriend. This film would have been improved greatly had they explored this storyline more. Second, the romance was nice, but extremely predictable. Throwing in a few twists would have made it more interesting. It’s obvious that more time was spent on the zombie angle instead of creating a unique love story. Finally, the biggest problem with this movie was R’s actions. He feels more like a moody teenager than a zombie. The premise is so ridiculous that it pulls you out of the story and makes you want to laugh at the film. The reason why the zombies started changing was downright absurd. Also, what R does with a car was just silly. Of course you have to suspend belief for a film like this, but come on. It is clear that the focus was more on being different instead of being good.
Bottom Line: “Warm Bodies” doesn’t take itself seriously so neither should you. It is entertaining but, you’re better off waiting for this one when it becomes a rental.
Grade: C
Rating: PG-13 Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
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