R ( Nicholas Hoult) is not your run of the mill Zombie. Who happens to on one day save the life of Julie ( Teresa Palmer) from being eaten (very un-zombie like) and the two form a relationship which triggers a change in him and the rest of the world.
Review
So it 's the usual zombie boy meets human girl. Zombie boy does not eat human girl brain's but instead falls in love with human girl and initially it is unrequited but slowly a bond forms which then grows into something else in unlikely circumstances. This leads to a physiological change to occur to R.
Yes, he is from the the wrong side of the living and she is from the right side of the living. It's all so West Side story, Sharks and Jets . Romeo and Juliet, Montague's and Capulet's and finally we have Warm Bodies, R and Julie, Zombies and Humans.
This is a Zom Romcom. Starting off with a zombie perspective the story gets going with a monologue, well, hey, Zombies can't talk. R feels isolated and alone in his world and only feels 'human' when he is surrounded by his stuff and his records. Which he has some how accumulated and can play and enjoy them too. R and a fellow zombie M ( Rob Corddry) his best friend both then decide to head to town looking for food and particularly BRAINS. Apparently zombies can experience memories if they eat brains and cannot sleep nor dream and being dead...they are very cold to touch. There are also other zombies unfortunately called "Boners." These are zombies who are too far gone and have torn off their own flesh.
It's during R & M's hunt for food and brains when they stumble on Juliet and her fellow humans. Here R has an instant attraction to Julie even though she does not know it as she fends off the Zombie hoards. This attraction becomes stronger after consuming some brains which leads him to save Juliet from death by brain consumption.
So a beautiful and awkward romance begins and blossoms. A stirring occurs which some how triggers a biological and physiological change to R. It's the start and during this that we see most of the comedy which is also seen in the trailer. As the change to R occurs, he starts to reconnect with the living by slowly starting to talk and then doing everything a zombie can't do to finally having a beating heart and able to bleed.
The performances were fine from Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. Both quite likeable. John Malkovich performance is definitely by the numbers. Rob Corddry steals it for me as M as he is given most of the comedy moments playing it dead ( sorry) straight.
This is all a thinly veiled slant at modern life. Where we are all already zombies where we do not talk to others and stay isolated listening to our ipods and being fixated with our smart phones. It's message of love, compassion and politeness to others will allow us to reconnect and break down barriers. To become a community again instead of remaining isolated tribes. Hey, maybe I'm reading too much into this.
Finally, it's a short film at 97mins. Light and likeable. Are you going to really remember it ... probably not but with all the other heavy films of Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty around this is welcome light relief.
7/10
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