Warm Bodies was one of the more well-received wide-release movies of Q1 2013, which was a time where most of the big films were either only somewhat decent or outright bad. Most of the best films of that time were independent and foreign films that were shown at film festivals and then made their way to a limited theatrical release. At that time, I wasn't watching many movies in theatres, so I recently decided to catch up on two films-this, and Side Effects, which I'll get to later.
The premise of Warm Bodies sounds eerily similar to the Twilight Saga, which may turn many viewers off, despite the fact that it was more acclaimed than any of the Twilight films. Thankfully, all the things that were notably criticized in Twilight are not present here. The zombies generally act like zombies, which isn't particularly hard given that zombies are far less standardized than vampires. While the zombies do come to engage in un-zombie-like behaviour, that is fully intentional, and is properly justified in the context of the film.
Similar to Twilight, the romance comes off as creepy at parts, but considerably less so, and intentionally. It's one of many sources of humor in the film, which there is plenty of. Being a romantic comedy, Warm Bodies could succeed by simply being funny, and thankfully it delivers on that front. Of course, the romantic part is also important, and Warm Bodies delivers there as well, as the leads have good chemistry and the plot is well-written. There are plenty of cute and funny moments between the two, not in the least bit because of good characterization. The movie wouldn't be watchable without a likable main couple, after all.
Now, the movie may make the normal zombies less scary, but there is a subset of skeleton-like zombies called "bonies" that are genuinely terrifying. They provide some very tense moments, seeming like something out of a horror movie. They help provide an exciting and action-packed climax when the main conflict is resolved.
It should also be noted that this is an excellent adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. The main conflict is blatantly the same idea, with one of the main couple being a human and the other being a zombie. While the cautionary tale about not being a lovestruck idiot is replaced with one of the more ridiculous zombie apocalypse situations, it keeps the chemistry from the original work. And though there may be ridiculous elements to the setting and plot, they do make enough sense and are easily forgivable.
Warm Bodies really is an excellent movie. At this moment it's available on DVD and Blu-Ray, as well as on-demand services, so it's very easy to recommend at least a rental.
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