Warm Bodies

Rating:

Look at pictures and read our coverage of the Red Carpet Premiere of ‘Warm Bodies’.  

Originality is something that Hollywood lacks a lot of, that’s why when something somewhat refreshing like ‘Warm Bodies’ comes around it creates a lot of buzz. The film will be more rewarding as a DVD watch, but if you want to see it enough in the theater you won’t be disappointed. The main thing here is more so the love story, hence why its release is so close to Valentine’s day; that in itself is predictable to the point of making us think it might be mocking ‘Twilight’, although we were assured it doesn’t. I praise the movie for not taking itself too seriously, since that clearly would have made it ridiculous instead of enjoyable.

‘Warm Bodies’ from director Jonathan Levine is about a Zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) who falls in love with a human, Julie (Teresa Palmer), which changes the rules in both of their worlds and might help calm the chaos of the apocalypse.

The love story has similarities to the Romeo and Juliet story, note the main characters names, but of course it is quite unconventional. We have become obsessed with zombies and that’s where this film brings in originality and has sparked the crowds’ attention. The fact that a zombie is who narrates the story and pokes fun at his own state of being is entertaining, there’s some bending of zombie rules (ok quite a lot of bending) and that might annoy or delight some people. I’m into ‘The Walking Dead’ – as is more than half of the world, but I like that this movie forces you to have an open mind to a different kind of zombie world and see it in more of a comedic sense than a chaotic apocalyptic scenario. The key things to remember are that irony and sarcasm are two of the most important ingredients here.

The movie also scores with the soundtrack; it plays a great role in both the comedic and romantic senses of the movie giving it a complete feel. Hoult and Palmer are easy to like and their relationship develops flawlessly, although at the beginning we are not quite sure why Palmer doesn’t just run away. The storyline does have some gaps that contradict the main plot, but letting go allows you to take the film for what it is.

If you’ve seen a preview for this film and are interested you get exactly what you see: a lighthearted comedy along with romance, no more no less. It will give you just enough chuckles and insight into an interesting world enough to entertain you instead of boring you. Levine combines just the right amount of everything to give us a feel good movie, with an original twist in this much appreciated breath of fresh air.