A further extension of the great zombie genre

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2013)

Warm Bodies (2013)
A surprising, imperfect, slightly adolescent movie that has enough guts and originality to make it glow. It actually toys with being a masterpiece—but don't go comparing it to "The Hunger Games" which has a similar audience and much more complete follow through. "Warm Bodies" takes the notion of zombies that have a little heart, and hope, and turns it into a vaguely Romeo and Juliet story.
The star, the zombie who shows signs of depth, is pretty amazing, and he makes the movie. Nicholas Hoult, who had a significant role in the excellent Tom Ford movie "A Single Man," comes across here with far more nuance than you're supposed to get with a zombie. And that's the idea. He plays it from all ends, the automaton and the deeply feeling youth.
Across from him is Teresa Palmer who is fine, though she leaves the transcending to Hoult. Palmer's character is Julia, and Hoult's is just called R (because he can't remember the rest)hence a hint of Juliet and Romeo. (There's even a balcony scene, though they don't play out the echoes beyond that.) Julie's evil father who doesn't understand the other side of life is played by John Malkevich with familiar distinction. Well cast.
Around them all is a world that is not so different from other zombie worlds— the endangered human sections and the wild and dangerous zombie sections. They are separated by a wall (just as in "World War Z" and others) and the wall, of course, is breached. This is a given, and a good necessity. What zombies eat, and what becomes of them, you'll have to see. This movie takes a slightly different take than others, and that's its optimistic magic.
But it's not a riveting masterpiece. There are some sections that just don't work outside of their core audience—young people in love. The posturing and conversations sometimes dip into obvious clichés. But not often. And the best parts are original and great fun.