Warm Bodies

My problem with Warm Bodies is sort of cyclical. I had little interest in the film, originally. Then I recently read the book. I thought the book was cute, funny and charming so it made me sort of excited to see the movie. Once I saw the movie, I felt like I might have enjoyed it more had I not read the book. If you've read the book, and liked the book, the main problem with the movie is that they change a lot of stuff, unnecessarily. A possible bigger problem is that they also dumbed it and watered it down quite a bit, but more on that later.

The zombie rom-com stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie named R. He lives in an airport and, while he enjoys collecting records and listening to music, he mostly stands around and groans a lot. While on a hunting expedition in the city, he meets, falls for, and kidnaps Julie (Teresa Palmer). He brings the pretty blonde back to his airplane home and holds her hostage although she eventually sort of begins to like the quirky zombie. After a while, however, she decides she needs to head back to her home - a walled in stadium which is run by her militant dad (John Malkovich!). While R lets her go at first, he begins to realize that their love, or whatever, is changing not only himself but the other undead, so he decides to go win her heart.

Warm Bodies the book was a pleasant surprise - funny, charming, sweet and completely satisfying. Warm Bodies the movie has a lot of the same charm but, having recently finished the book, all the pointless changes were completely distracting. And it was things that didn't even need to be changed! In the book, R wears a red tie but in the movie they change it to a red hoodie. In the book, R goes searching for Julie because he loves her. In the movie, it's because he needs to warn her she is in danger. In the book, R has a zombie wife and kids. In the movie, they don't exist. The changes they make are totally silly and don't save any time, really. A big change I wasn't fond of was how R gets into the stadium to begin with. It's much more satisfying in the book. More than that though, Warm Bodies the movie seemed sort of dumbed down so it appealed to a more general audience. I'm not saying the book is particularly brilliant or mind bending or anything, but I definitely felt like the movie more aimed itself at pleasing a certain young teenage demographic. A lot of the jokes felt almost too jokey, if that makes sense.

Still, Warm Bodies isn't without it's good points, the main one being the great cast. Nicholas Hoult is absolutely perfectly cast as the droll, intellectual, funny, sweet zombie R. He is great in the role and I think he's about to have a huge year. Teresa Palmer is great as well, although he role seems more interchangeable. Anyone could have played Julie, although I think Hoult is perfectly cast as R. Analeigh Tipton (who I think would make a perfect Andie if they and when they make the Gone Girl movie... someone better take note of this because it's gold, casting wise!) is a great scene stealer in the small role of Julie's best friend Nora. Dave Franco brings the adorable Franco brother charm to the role of Julie's recently departed boyfriend. But it's John Malkovich, of course, who all but steals the show. It's sometimes hard to tell if he's being campy or not but that sort of Malkovich blend of acting works perfectly in this movie.

Overall, Warm Bodies isn't going to change the world, and come summer time, most people will probably have forgotten about it altogether. Still, it's a cute and fun way to pass a few hours on a cold winter's day.

Grade: C