DVD Review: Warm Bodies

The world is overrun with flesh eating zombies, one of which is R, a name he gave himself because he can't remember his full name. R is an introspective fellow who is unhappy in his zombie life until he meets Julie, a survivor with whom he falls in love with at first sight...oh and right after eating her boyfriend's brains and gaining his memories. Soon, R begins to feel things he's never felt before; like a pulse. Is Warm Bodies any good? Here's what I thought.

The Good

While people have been comparing this to Twilight, there really couldn't be any comparison further from the truth. In fact, in some ways Warm Bodies is making fun of the supernatural romance genre by taking it to it's most unthinkable extreme... And making it a fairly enjoyable comedy. The premise itself is funny, the dialogue is funny and all of the supporting actors involved are built for laughs and have perfect comedic timing.

The story is also quite original given that it's actually a story we've seen a million times: Romeo and Juliet; a fact I failed to realize until about halfway through the movie (R and Julie...get it?). Shakespeare has been around a while, but this really is a fresh take on this story, told through the lenses of a zombie apocalypse; because we love our zombie apocalypses!

The Bad

Some parts of Warm Bodies are a little but of a stretch to believe. Maybe it's the Walking Dead's fault, but I like my zombies to be explainable. This film doesn't bother with that. For instance, you are supposed to just buy that when a zombie eats brains, they get the memories of that person. Also, how is this whole returning to life thing happening?

The other problem with Warm Bodies is Julie, played by Teresa Palmer. I don't know if the filmmakers intentionally wanted Julie to be as dull as Kristen Stewart, but that's what we end up with. As the audience, we should identify with R as he falls in love but honestly I don't buy that Julie is a strong enough character to bring the dead back to life.

The Verdict

While Warm Bodies suffers from a full female lead and some believability issues, it more than makes up for it by putting a fresh (and funny!) spin on a classic story.

Dusty's Score: 6 out of 10