A Review for Warm Bodies!

Warm Bodies just might be the most adorable zombie movie you will ever see in all your life. This is both good and bad depending on your point of view. While it's harmless enough to warrant a polite pat on the back, it doesn't excel in any particular way. It's slightly funny, minimally scary, and not particularly inventive. The overall package is disappointing considering the charming concept at its core. Nevertheless, it's still moderately likeable even if the end results are disappointingly pedestrian.

Warm Bodies is the story of a zombie named 'R.' As far as he is aware, he used to be a pretty normal kid, but these days he's doomed to aimless wanderings and brain eatings. R falls in love with a beautiful young miss named Julie, rescuing her from a horrific fate after her and her friends are attacked during a mission to collect supplies. He sneaks her to his vacated plane hideout which is decorated with an assorted collection of various items he has discovered. As Julie soon discovers, R is not like other zombies. He's compassionate, caring, has a love for music and collecting old vinyl, and even attempts to communicate with her, albeit limitedly. As they spend more and more time together, R begins to exhibit more human qualities and Julie can't help but develop feelings for him. Naturally. And who can blame her? He's so dreamy!!

It may be attempting to bank off the success of the abysmal Twilight series, but Warm Bodies is both cleverer and more fun. It's also about as lukewarm as you can get. As I mentioned earlier, its intriguing concept shows promise for some really great ideas, but writer/director Jonathan Levine of 50/50 fame doesn't seem much interested in putting forth the effort to make this one really special. As a random side note, Levine's insistence on placing random contemporary tunes into the flick is awkward and makes him seem more like a film school student deparately trying to show off his music collection than anything else.

The performances are what really keep this whole project afloat. Nicholas Hoult as R is very charming and his costar Teresa Palmer's performance as his love interest is sweet and effective. She's kind of like Kristen Stewart...only prettier and, you know, talented or something.

So, at the end of the day, I can't really wholeheartedly recommend Warm Bodies, but it's harmless fun in an unaffecting way. You could do much, much worse and there's enough to enjoy here that it wouldn't qualify as a complete waste of time.

FINAL RATING: 3/5