Today’s quick review: Warm Bodies. R (Nicholas Hoult), an unusually thoughtful zombie, shocks everyone when he protects Jules (Teresa Palmer), a human survivor, from being devoured. Taking her back to his airport home, R tries to get through to her using his limited zombie vocabulary. As the two of them bond over music and memories, R develops new feelings that begin to spread to his fellow zombies.
Warm Bodies is a zombie romantic comedy about a zombie boy who falls in love with a human girl. Warm Bodies puts a new spin on the zombie genre by positing that zombies are not truly dead, only cut off from humanity. As R gets to know Jules, he figures out hot to express his inner thoughts, making him a bridge between the two groups. Clever ideas and a sweet tone make Warm Bodies a charming and rewarding watch.
The highlight of Warm Bodies is the way it handles its zombies. R makes for a fun narrator, turning the life of a zombie into an endless cycle of repetitive actions and social faux pas. The script hits the nail on the head with its humor, tossing in just the right amount of modern culture without cheapening what it means to be a zombie. Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer also have great chemistry, gluing the movie together.
Warm Bodies will not suit everyone. The tone is predictably saccharine, even if there is some combat along the way. The humor leans on the gentle side, and it is missing the casual cruelty seen in other zombie comedies. Finally the story does not hold too many surprises. But for the right viewer, these limitations will mean very little. Give Warm Bodies a shot when you are in the mood for something sweet and quirky.
For another unconventional romance with a wistful tone, try Upside Down or WALL-E. For a zombie comedy with a similar hypothesis but less romance, try Shaun of the Dead.
[6.8 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588173/). I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for an original premise and a predictable but heartwarming plot.