warmbodies Warm Bodies (2013) Directed by Jonathon Levine. Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, and John Malkovich. IMDB says: “After R (a highly unusual zombie) saves Julie from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world.”

Warm Bodies is unlike any zombie movie I’ve ever seen. That’s certainly a benefit by the end, but something you have to adjust to in the beginning. As far as we’ve seen zombies represented in movies they are brain dead… it’s like one of their main characteristics. In this, not so much. Nicholas Hoult narrates the movie as the main character, simply known as R (he can’t remember the rest, but he’s pretty sure it started with that letter). His brain functioning is fairly normal but he can’t quite express any of it like a normal living person.

While out on an excursion with other zombies to chow on some brain, Julie (Teresa Palmer) catches his eye. She is a human living in what was once part of a city but is now a walled in compound under the command of her father (John Malkovich). She’s on a mission with her best friend (Analeigh Tipton) and boyfriend (Dave Franco) to gather supplies outside the wall when they run into R’s group. Instead of letting Julie die, R has the zombie equivalent of love at first sight and decides to take her back to the airport where the local zombies congregate. At first Julie is obviously frightened and wants to get away from R but as she gets more comfortable in his presence a weird friendship starts to form. Throughout the movie as he gets closer to Julie, R becomes more capable of communication. It’s all something fresh that you’ve never really seen from movie zombies. The earlier you forget about what you’re used to seeing, the quicker you can get into this new version.

This film ends up being pretty funny (don’t expect Zombieland levels) while extremely sweet (nowhere near close to Twilight cheese). Rob Corddy as R’s zombie mate and Tipton provide doses of good humor at the right moments. Palmer and Hoult are so likeable together that just watching his attempts to get closer while trying not to be creepy, as reanimated corpses tend to be, is fun. There’s also enough action for this to not be a strictly cute comedy. There’s some nice zombie horde action along with the menacing “Bonies” (zombies that are even more dead).

Just be prepared for a romantic comedy with a dash of action and a rewriting of zombie rules accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack and I think you’ll enjoy Warm Bodies. It’s not the funniest or most exciting movie, but it has plenty of great things going for it. If nothing else you can see two fun, refreshing performances from its two young leads.

Warm Bodies is a fun movie that doesn’t take its premise too seriously. The film has a good sense of humor and doesn’t rely too heavily on drama to drive the story. In fact, a lot of situations that could become very dramatic are forgiven or worked out swiftly. It helps to keep the movie seem more like a comedy than anything else and prevents it from being too much like a teen drama.[Possible Light Spoilers] This next paragraph goes a little into plot, so it could be seen as a spoiler but it’s not really a big reveal or anything. I wanted to touch on this point of the story because I think it shows the direction that the filmmakers wanted to take the movie in. While it could’ve been easy for Warm Bodies to go a very Twilight-esque route with the love story, it refrains from using that much schlock. Instead of love curing the undead, it’s just basic human contact that starts to revive the zombies. The relationship between the main characters is just the catalyst that causes the realization of this cure.[/Possible Light Spoilers]

The cast was interesting. There are some up-and-coming stars as well as some more established actors in the cast. Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer both do great as leading actors. Especially Hoult, whose narration helps bring some character to the zombie he is playing. John Malkovich is a very convincing over protective father/paranoid leader. Rob Corddry is perfect for the role he plays, bringing his style of comedy to his small role in an effective way.

Overall, I would recommend this film more to younger moviegoers. Also, there isn’t really any horror elements in the film. The love story of the film is easily the main focus, but it’s original enough, overall, so it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

warmscore
FTS SCORE:
74%
Warm Bodies is in theaters February 1st.