Warm Bodies Film Review (Yes, I Got To See It Early)

I scored some passes to the new zombie movie, Warm Bodies, earlier this week while out shopping. I was chatting with someone at Bath And Body Works about my writing and he handed over the passes much to my surprise.

Therefore, yesterday, my husband, Kody Boye, and I arrived very early at the theater to see the film. We were second in line and spent most of the late afternoon chatting with other arrivals.  Everyone seemed very excited to see the film and there were a lot of young women in the line.

The movie is being marketed as the new Twilight, so perhaps that is why so many women attended. People in line weren't really sure what the movie was going to be like, but we were all willing to give it a chance. 

So what did I think of the movie?

Warm Bodies is a very charming, funny zombie fairytale that I enjoyed quite a bit. Yeah, I said fairytale. This is NOT a serious zombie film. It's a bit quirky, it is funny, and it's a film I would enjoy seeing again when I'm in a lighthearted mood. Though its a Zom-Rom-Com like Shaun of the Dead, it is not quine as funny or as gory as that film. Warm Bodies derives a lot of its comedy from the complete awkwardness of R, the zombie, trying to come to terms with his undead life. He has no memory of who he was before he died, so he collects bits and pieces from the dead world around him and hides them away in his own private shelter. It's obvious that he is a bit more advanced than other zombies, and this might be due to his penchant to eat brainzzz.

R's musing and interaction with other zombies was really amusing. There are some laugh out loud moments for sure.  There are also some fairly scary zombie attack scenes, but they're not nearly as gruesome as The Walking Dead TV show.

There were quite a few things I liked.

1. They establish their zombie mythos very quickly and stick to it.

2. The female characters in the movie were NOT stupid. I appreciated that quite a lot. Zombieland let me down when the sisters got a case of the stupids just so they could be rescued (*rolls eyes and yawns*)

3. The sets were awesome. Absolutely some of the best depictions of a post apocalyptic world I've seen in a film in a long time.

4. The lead characters were excellent in their roles, and I actually cared about them.

5. The humor. I really enjoyed the humorous moments in the film.

6. The bonies were so freakin' gross. Loved it.

7. There were a few scary moments where I really appreciated the zombie threat.

A few things I didn't care much for:

1. I hated the music. It jarred me out of the movie more than set a mood. Though there was a funny joke through a song, the music really wasn't complimentary to the film.

2. Very low gore quotient, but then again this isn't a hardcore zombie film.

3. It was hard for me to believe in the cure, but I have written some hardcore zombie stuff so it's hard for me to embrace the sweet/cutsey aspect of it.

Overall, I liked it quite a bit. Again, not a serious zombie film. It's definitely a Zom-Rom-Com. C'mon, the girl's name is Julie, and the boy zombie is R and there is a balcony scene! If you keep that in mind and don't expect a hardcore zombiefest, you'll probably enjoy the film like I did.

Also, the humor, violence, etc in the trailer pretty much match what you get in the film. Therefore, you can decide whether or not to take younger ones to the film.

Our audience laughed, screamed, and cheered, so I suspect this movie will do very well due to word of mouth.