Books on the Bay

I finally got a chance to go see the Warm Bodies movie last night after I won a Fandango gift certificate!

 

What I liked: The tone of the movie and the style in which it was filmed really kept the feeling of the novel. R's monologues are almost word for word out of the book and the first two thirds of the movie stick almost exactly to the plot line of the novel. Nick Hoult makes an amazing R, he's kind of awkward and dead, but still loveable. He's not over the top either as a zombie or a human and really portrays "I'm just a kid that got stuck in this weird situation" really well. Teresa Palmer reminded me a lot of a much better Kristen Stewart (maybe just because she has similar facial features when she's acting) and I thought she made an excellent Julie. I wasn't too invested in either of the characters ahead of time though, so I wouldn't have been too picky about who played them anyway. The soundtrack, by the way, is fantastic.

 

What I didn't like: There are major changes to the end. Warm Bodies the novel is the first in a series and is left very open ended. The movie, naturally, goes further and ties up all of the open strings. I really loved the idea of this city within a stadium that didn't really come to life in the movie. They also took some creative liberties with the city (which is supposed to be post-apocolyptic impoverished, not mansion-y). Also can I say what the hell?? to the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene in the movie? Where did that come from? And whyyyy on earth was it put it? So terrible! It almost ruined the rest of the movie from me. Come on now, your viewers aren't so dumb that they don't realize that "R" and "Julie" and "M" aren't based loosely off of Romeo and Juliet! Yuck.

 

Overall: Would totally go see it again, would probably buy the movie on DVD. I just adored the feel of the movie. I know that's very ambiguous, but it was clever, funny, and beautiful with a kickin soundtrack.