See it at the Movies

Warm Bodies

Don Fowler
Posted 2/7/13

(Zombie love story)

What adult in their right mind would want to see another zombie movie?

Nothing good ever followed the original "Night of the Living Dead,” including the spoofs, which were …

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See it at the Movies

Warm Bodies

Posted

(Zombie love story)

What adult in their right mind would want to see another zombie movie?

Nothing good ever followed the original "Night of the Living Dead,” including the spoofs, which were worse than the serious attempts.

And then along comes "Warm Bodies,” a heartwarming zombie love story.

Okay, so it's not Shakespeare, but it does have its charming moments.

Nicholas Hoult plays R, the young zombie who, like Stallone in "Bullet to the Head,” narrates his own story. The difference is that R (He can't remember his name, only that it starts with R) is articulate and has a great, sarcastic sense of humor.

R, along with hundreds of other zombies, lives at an abandoned airport. After some kind of apocalyptic event, the world has been divided into a small band of uninfected humans, zombies and Bones.

The human army is led by Gen. Grigio (John Malkovich), whose daughter Julie (Teresa Palmer) is saved from being eaten by R, and brought to the safety of an abandoned aircraft.

Zombies regain a bit of memory from the brains of the people they eat. After chomping on Julie's boyfriend's brain, he learns a bit of her past. (I know, it sounds gross, but it is actually funny). With a message of “all you need is love,” Julie and R bond, as they are chased by the other zombies and the scary Bones. R discovers that beneath the emotionless body, heart and brain are feelings for Julie. The other zombies start to feel it, too.

All this leads to the big battle with Bones and the humans chasing the zombie. It gets a bit tedious and silly at this point, but there is hope for a positive outcome. We even have R courting Julie under a balcony. Maybe it is Shakespeare. After all, this is a love story and, despite its silliness is kind of cute.

Rated PG-13, with violence (the Saturday matinee crowd laughed often, and seemed to like it).

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  • Tom

    America's youthful fascination with zombies was, in my opinion, to be expected, given the current gradual decline of pop culture and entertainment options that so many irresponsible and apathetic media "professionals" create. Entertainment choices that include virtuous characters and positive, uplifting story lines are hard to find, today. But I seek them out intentionally, and avoid media and their advocates (advertisers) who trash our airwaves and cable channels with garbage programming. The human body has the most amazing characteristics of healing. The brain, on the other hand, doesn’t heal as quickly from the trauma of shocking imagery or ideas. As Robert Jackson states, “the mind has developed bad habits. Instead of reassurance, there is blame. Instead of kindness, there is meanness. Instead of flexibility, there is obsession. Instead of comfort, there are nervousness and nervous habits. Instead of learning, there is avoiding. Instead of self-confidence, there is self-doubt. Instead of realism, there is delusion. Instead of trusting oneself, one looks to others. Instead of belonging, there is alienation. Instead of creativity, there is boredom.”

    Saturday, February 23, 2013 Report this