![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Warm-Bodies-193x300.jpg\" "\\"Warm")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have to admit that it was a great decision to release a movie called \u201cWarm Bodies\u201d in February. The title makes for a terrific invitation to get out of the cold and into a theater. If the film were called \u201cWarm Bodies Wrapped up in Snuggly Blankets and Drinking Rich Hot Cocoa\u201d, it would really be unstoppable. Maybe if there\u2019s a sequel.<\/p>\nThe film tells the story of a former human who falls in love with a current human. The former human is a zombie called R (Nicholas Hoult), and when we meet him he has nothing better to do than be a zombie all day. His daily activities include staggering around an airport, occasionally grunting to his friend M (Rob Corddry), and hoping some juicy human brains will turn up. One day brains do turn up attached to a group of humans gathering supplies. Instinctively, he eats the grey matter of Perry (Dave Franco), which gives him some of the young man\u2019s memories. This causes R to immediately fall in love with his girlfriend Julie (Teresa Palmer), one of the few survivors of the ambushed group. Can R overcome absolutely everything about being a zombie to win Julie\u2019s heart?<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t easy. R can only grunt, not talk, to Julie. He can run and fight when he needs to, but has very little in the way of motor skills (both kinds of motor skills). But the real obstacle is that Julie doesn\u2019t trust him not to eat her brains. And no, it does not help matters for R to point out that he\u2019s full from eating her boyfriend\u2019s brains. The one thing he can offer is protection, being a zombie gives him an insight into the weaknesses of the other zombies. She in turn takes him home to meet her father (John Malkovich), the leader of the human resistance. He steadfastly believes that all zombies soulless killing machines, but she wants to show him that some like R are capable of compassion.<\/p>\n
As the relationship strengthens, R\u2019s condition improves. His heart starts beating, he\u2019s capable of more speech, and he becomes one of the \u201cWarm Bodies\u201d of the title. Fellow zombies like M begin to improve as well when they see the way R and Julie care for each other. This is one of those stories where love is the key to saving humanity. Normally I would scoff at something so ridiculous, but this movie has zombies, so my disbelief is appropriately suspended.<\/p>\n
Since \u201cWarm Bodies\u201d is about a relationship between a human girl and a horror creature, comparisons to \u201cTwilight\u201d are inevitable. Truthfully, the two aren\u2019t that similar. \u201cWarm Bodies\u201d is actually told through the eyes of the creature (via narration that I didn\u2019t find funny) and unlike Edward and Jacob, R is a full-fledged zombie at all times. There aren\u2019t any scenes where he seems normal and nonthreatening and the camera can look at him lovingly. Nicholas Hoult may reach heartthrob status someday, but I can\u2019t picture teenage girls putting up posters of him as R on their bedroom walls.<\/p>\n
What really hurt \u201cWarm Bodies\u201d for me was its look. Almost everything has a depressing blue-purple tint to it. I got the suspicion that the production was trying to save money by not buying proper light bulbs. Also, the skeletal villains are made of terrible CGI. As for the script, the \u201czombie in love\u201d plot hasn\u2019t been done to death yet, but plots about zombies, lovers from different worlds, and the military trying to destroy something it doesn\u2019t understand certainly have. Whittle \u201cWarm Bodies\u201d down to its good parts and you have a few funny date scenes between a human and a zombie. It may not be much, but it\u2019s better than standing out in the cold.<\/p>\n
Two Stars out of Five.<\/p>\n
\u201cWarm Bodies\u201d is rated PG-13 for zombie violence and some language. Its running time is 97 minutes.<\/p>\n