Warm Bodies (12A/PG-13, 98 mins)
Director: Jonathan Levine
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
The apocalypse isn’t all fun and games in this surprisingly mournful comedy horror that’s on the one hand praiseworthy for doing something a bit different within the zombie genre, but on the other generates the lingering whiff of a Twilight cash-in with its romance between the living and the undead. The undead here is R (Nicholas Hoult) who, though a zombie, helps instead of eats the still-alive Julie (Teresa Palmer) and begins to feel himself change, perhaps on the way to becoming human again. With a strong thematic hook, about clinging on to humanity as long as possible, it’s a shame the rest of the plotting is so sloppy and the teen-friendly rating means any zombie-munching action is underfed. Ally that to a much too deliberately paced build-up, and a resolution that’s too easily earned, and Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead can sleep easy. But the romantic element is winning and there’s certainly some fun, if hardly a barrel of laughs, to be had with the premise, usually provided by Hoult’s zombified reactions and the always dependable Rob Corddry.
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