Weird premise, awesome movie

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2013)

I have not read the book so I didn't quite know what to expect from a zombie meets girl love story, but I had heard good things so I decided to give it a shot. Which was definitely a great decision; I was laughing my head off from basically the first second of the movie. The story is an amazingly refreshing twist on the zombie genre; it totally flips the script. I had no idea how they were going to make a zombie come across as sympathetic, but the voice over element is genius and hilarious.
Despite the obviously high-quality source material, the whole thing easily could have been a disaster if not for a brilliant performance from Nicholas Hoult, who plays the zombie protagonist simply known as R. Even with extremely restricted dialogue, facial expressions and body language, he still manages to convey an impressive range of emotions and elicit audience sympathy.
In the interest of full disclosure I have to admit that I have been a huge fan of his ever since "Skins"; anyone who has seen that show knows that Hoult is a fan-freaking-tastic dramatic actor, which is obvious in this movie as well. But I was even more impressed with his comedy chops; between him and Rob Corddry (who plays R's best zombie friend and is also amazing)I was cracking up all over the place.
Also little miss Analeigh Tipton (who I will never not associate with America's Next Top Model, sorry) was super likable as the leading lady's best (human) friend Nora. Like, I don't even know if she is a good actor or not; she just has such a charming and magnetic personality that I want to be her BFF.
Yes, John Malkovich obviously deserved more screen time and Dave Franco deserved less, in my opinion (which it pains me to admit, since I do love me some Franco), but the only real issue I had was with Teresa Palmer as the love interest Julie. Granted, she didn't have much to do besides act perplexed by R's strange, un-zombie-like behavior, but she basically struck me as a blonde Kristen Stewart, frowning and sighing and eyebrow-furrowing her way through the movie.
This, by the way, is the one and only valid comparison between Warm Bodies and Twilight; despite any superficial similarities the two are not actually alike in any way so do not under any circumstances let that put you off, you'd be doing yourself a great disservice in avoiding this movie for that reason.
So yeah, basically it's funny and poignant and suspenseful and a little bit creepy and a little bit cheesy, and basically just generally adorable. I loved it a lot and I think you probably will, too.