Friday, January 11, 2013

Warm Bodies

Just your classic story of Romeo and Juliet, if Romeo was an undead lurker and Juliet thinks Romeo will try to eat her brains for half the movie.

Before now every zombie movie had one common similarity, you kill zombies and don't let them eat you. Though Warm bodies is not the first movie to do this, it was certainly the best movie I've seen that portrays the zombie apocalypse from the eyes of the zombie. It's pretty easy to pick up that this is a modern undead retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The main zombie doesn't remember his name, all he can remember is that it starts with "R" (like Romeo). Julie (very close to Juliet) is the main counterpart of this romantic comedy. If you are still not convinced this is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, the balcony scene removes all doubt.

The cast is really what brings this undead movie to life. Nicholas Hoult play's the main zombie "R" and is very believable as a zombie with a heart. Theresa Palmer plays Julie and R's love interest. I was a little upset that John Malkovich didn't get as much screen time as Julie's father and avid zombie hunter General Grigio. The parts of the movie that Malkovich was in, were great, but I felt that in order to really understand and feel his hate for zombies we could have used just one more scene to experience his backstory. The real gold in this movie were from the other supporting actors. Analeigh plays Nora, Julie's best friend,  and does a great job in bringing a spice of life to the human side of the storyline when the focus was mainly on the zombies. Rob Corddry plays "M" the best friend of R and quite honestly steals the show with his one-liners. At first all the zombies could only grunt, but as the movie progresses so does the language of the zombies. Rob Corddry, with his comedic style and timing takes what could have been a mediocre character and made him unforgettable.

Though Warm Bodies is a zombie movie don't expect "Dawn of the Dead" or even "The Walking Dead" type of gore and violence. This movie has more of a focus on the love story than the gore. Many of the basic "rules" of zombie movies aren't kept with Warm Bodies. I was troubled with this at first then quickly realized how ridiculous I was by being upset about not following the same guidelines as everyone else does with a fictional genre.

Through the months of January and February there will be many movies coming out that will just not be that great at all. When you find a movie within that time that is actually watchable, let alone enjoyable, take advantage of it. If you are interested in a movie with a good amount of comedy and heart, this movie is for you. Follow @SMindedMovie on Twitter Like Simple Minded Movies on Facebook Also I'll be putting out a monthly Podcast all about movies starting some time next week. So keep an eye out for that as well.


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