It doesn't take long to realize that you are watching the
most recent adaptation of Shakespeare's adaptation of the 1562 Arthur Brooke's
Italian tragedy "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet." An older version of the story comes from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," called "Pyramus and Thisbe." Our story's protagonist, is named 'R' because
he can't remember his real name, other than it may have started with an 'R.' He
spends his days shuffling around an airport terminal. R, unlike other zombies tends to be
introspective wonders why he doesn't seem to be like any 'normal' zombies. Why he has flashes of thoughts, almost
memories, while he ponders the mysteries of life, somewhat odd for a zombie,
don't you think? R is a hoarder, a
collector, and he appreciates music. 'Warm
Bodies' is based on Isaac Marion's book of the same name and explores the world
of zombies as more of a metaphor of the dull grind of everyday life that we
find ourselves trapped in. A world where
we, as humans, live day to day without any real friends, any real thought of
what is happening around us. However, occasionally
that one special person appears in our lives and things change.
Enter Julie (Teresa Palmer).
Julie lives with her father, Grigio, played by John Malkovich. Grigio is the leader of a walled fortress
near the center of town. Malkovich plays
the father and leader as sort of a gray character, not sure, where he stands in
this film other than a minor antagonist.
Julie and her boyfriend, Perry (Dave Franco - James’s younger brother),
along with a small group of armed scavengers are raiding a pharmacy for medical
supplies when R and his group of shamblers smell human flesh and attack the
pharmacy. During the melee of humans
against the shambling corpses most of the group is killed except for Julie, her
friend, Nora (Analeigh Tipton), and of course Perry. At this point, I have to mention that "Warm
Bodies" main flaw is a lot of exposition, rather than action. For the first 20 minutes of the film is
almost total voice over by R. I guess,
that can't be helped, because eh, R is dead.
Throughout the film, R interjects humor as we hear his thoughts like
when he is munching on Perry's corpse he takes a moment to think about how nice
Perry's gold watch is. Or when R and his
zombie 'friend,' M (Rob Corddry - 'Hot Tub Time Machine,' 'What Happens in
Vegas') try to have a conversation that
consists mostly of grunts and groans while the two try to express their
feelings for each other. Another road
bump that 'Warm Bodies' runs into is that in some cases the pacing is a bit
slow. Either because director/screenplay
writer, Jonathan Levine (50/50), and editor Nancy Richardson ("Twilight," "The
Vow," "Red Riding Hood") were trying to take their time to develop the character
of R and Julie, as people (zombie) meant to be together, or perhaps, zombies
just don't move that fast.
Like the Shakespearian story, R and Julie come to terms with
their differences and although he is dead, R does his best to come off slick in
front of Julie despite his handicap. The
audience witnesses what we as young adults in love go through. It is about half way through the second act
that the pacing picks up. What I liked
about this film is the sense of hope that the film gives the audience in its
schmaltzy kind of way. 'Warm Bodies'
also brings to mind another concept that I like is that in the acceptance of
diverse states of being or just differences in people. What I didn't care too much for was the
amount of exposition along with the concepts that by eating someone’s brains
you get their memories. I thought that
this one concept I thought was just too farfetched. In this case, R's feelings for Julie are not
only due to a physical attraction for her, but mostly by the fact that he ate
her boyfriend's brains. In spite of my
minor objections, 'Warm Bodies' is just a fun film to take your older kids to,
or a great date movie.
Movie Data
Genre: Comedy, Horror. Romance
Year: 2013
Staring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, John Malkovich
Director: Jonathan Levine
Producer(s): David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Bruna Papandrea
Writer: Jonathan Levine, Isaac Marion (novel)
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 98 minutes
Release Date: 2/1/2013
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