It was good for what it was

Rating: 8/10 (14 December 2013)

Look, I'm not going to say this was some kind of mind blowing, thought provoking movie because it wasn't. I don't think it was supposed to be. It was a light, mainstream movie. It's a unique, silly, sometimes meaningful spin on the zombie genre. The thing I really enjoyed about it was that FINALLY someone made a movie where the zombies can be cured. I've always hated zombie movies because the plots to all of them are pretty much the same. A virus spreads, people turn into zombies, there's a camp of survivors who fight the zombies. In the end, the zombies die and a few plucky people prevail. How many times can we watch that same plot over and over again? This one, while not perfect, was refreshingly original. I admit, there were some contradictions here and there and there were cliché moments but the movie was enjoyable enough that I didn't care. I also liked the fact that the zombie make-up wasn't overdone. I've seen some other reviewers criticize that but I am sick to death of zombies with rotting flesh and dangling body parts. The characters were very likable and made me root for a happy ending. The girl was tough but not annoyingly so, and the male lead was vulnerable and sweet. I have loved Nicholas Hoult ever since he was in About A Boy. I was so happy to see that he was still having some success in the business. I'd so wanted to like this movie just because he was in it but then I heard from a lot of people that it was pretty bad. I avoided it until now because I just didn't want to see Nicholas fail miserably. That would've been painful. My eleven year old daughter finally persuaded me to watch the movie tonight and I am glad I did. While it wasn't earth shattering, it was a good, solid movie. I'd recommend it to anyone.