**I already blogged about Warm Bodies back in February, but with its recent release on Blu-Ray / DVD, I just had to celebrate it and blog about it again. I won't be reviewing the full movie again. I'll be briefly covering the Blu-Ray / DVD Extra Content.** __________________________________________________________________
Format Watched [Specific Edition, if any]: Blu-Ray[Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Pack]
Approx. Runtime: 98 minutes (1 hours, 38 minutes) Language Watched: English
Other Language(s) Available: Yes
DVD Extra Content? Yes
Type of Movie: Romantic, Comedy, Zombie
OVERALL IMPRESSION
I loved Warm Bodies when it was released in theatres. That love hasn't changed at all. I ended up watching the movie three times in theatres and I could have seen it many more times. I was super excited for the home release and watched it the day it came out.
Overall, the extra content was enjoyable and informative. I think for a Warm Bodies fan, they really provided a lot of behind-the-scenes looks into how the movie was made. Now, I have the Blu-Ray + DVD Combo pack, so the DVD had the same kind of extra content as the Blu-Ray. I'm not completely sure if that's the case with the DVD-only version.
DIRECTOR COMMENTARY (movie length)
This
was really interesting. The commentary was done by Jonathan Levine (Director / Screenwriter), Nicholas Hoult, and Teresa Palmer. It was interesting to find out which scenes were re-shoots (scenes that are done after the main film shoot), which lines were ad-libbed, and many other things. A Warm Bodies fan will definitely want to check this out.
Fun fact that I learned during the commentary: for a PG-rated movie, the screenplay can contain at MOST one swear word.
BOY MEETS, ER, DOESN'T EAT GIRL (10 mins)
This was a talk about the creation of the novel and the screenplay. It was really neat to have Isaac Marion (author) talk about the novel-making process, and then have Jonathan Levine talk about the process of turning it into a screenplay.
R & J (15 mins)
This focused on the main characters, R & Julie. Nicholas Hoult joked about having difficulty making sure he said his lines right at the right time because he had so few spoken lines.
A scene with R and Julie.
A LITTLE LESS DEAD (16 mins)
This briefly looked at the other other key characters in the movie, character relationships, and their experiences working with each other. Rob Corddry is pretty funny here.
EXTREME ZOMBIE MAKE-OVER (10 mins)
This went into detail about the zombie make-up and how they came to their decisions about it. Kudos to Adrien Moore (special effects / makeup guy) for fixing R up as a sexy, good-looking zombie (though I gotta say, Nicholas Hoult is already sexy and good-looking). :)
Adrien Moore (?) applying some "zombie juice" around Nicholas Hoult's mouth.
A WRECK IN PROGRESS (15 mins)
This looked at the movie sets -- mainly the abandoned airport and the abandoned stadium. They also talked about transforming the abandoned airport to look really abandoned (like abandoned for many years). They also talked about the cold, cold weather in Montreal (that's where they shot the movie) and other stuff about set locations. Their talk about the wall graffiti was neat.
Cool wall graffiti.
BUSTIN' CAPS (10 mins)
Here they talked about the action sequences in the movie and what the actors had to do to prepare themselves.
Dave Franco talking excitedly about his morning at the gun range.
BEWARE THE BONEYS (7 mins)
This looked at the CG visual effects, mainly focusing on the evolution of the boneys -- how they came to look and move the way they are. It was really neat.
WHIMSICAL SWEETNESS: TERESA PALMER'S WARM BODIES HOME MOVIES (12 mins)
This is a series of home movie clips from Teresa Palmer's phone camera. It was interesting to hear how she sounds like in real life ('cuz I just didn't know how she was like in real life). She has a very bubbly personality, and after hearing that side of her, I wish we could have seen a bit more of that bubbly-ness in her character Julie.
ZOMBIE ACTING TIPS WITH ROB CORDDRY (5 mins)
This was a clip Screen Junkies did with Rob Corddry. It was very funny, and a little gross.
You can actually watch this clip on ScreenJunkies' Youtube channel:
Funny clip.
DELETED SCENES (11 mins)
This was really neat. A lot of the removed scenes were clips that were closer to the novel, and I appreciate that they tried to do that -- make it faithful to the novel.
SHRUG & GAG REEL (5 mins)
There were some really funny moments. Besides one elaborate prank and the last scene, here's one of my favourite gags:
Hahahahaha. Hilarious!
THEATRICAL TRAILER
This was their first trailer -- the one that didn't ruin the story for me.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Warm Bodies is great. I highly recommend checking out the DVD or Blu-Ray. The Extra Content does not disappoint. And of course -- the movie's just awesome.
Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment. :)
Format Watched: In theatres (Tuesday February 12, 2013)
Approx. Runtime: 98 minutes (1 hours, 38 minutes)
Language Watched: English
Type of Movie: Romantic, Comedy, Zombie
Overall Impression: I really enjoyed it! It's heartwarming, sweet, and funny.
SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This
review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a
"Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail
about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the
review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.
PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
I first heard about Warm Bodies while waiting for another movie to start (Les Miserables, I think). It was a short clip about Warm Bodies -- talking about the plot and its originality. A zombie falling in love? Seeing things from a zombie's perspective? Yeah, that does seem pretty original. At that, I made a mental note of its release date.
Later on, I saw a full trailer of Warm Bodies. Then I thought, Damn it! The trailer spoiled some of the movie's mystery (I'll mention what in the "Spoilers" section). Regardless, I was still intrigued. I just had a better idea of what to expect, and I was right: something heartwarming, sweet, and funny.
STORY
Warm Bodies follows R, one of the many zombies roaming around during the "zombie apocalypse". During a zombie attack, R meets and falls in love with Julie, a human. He goes against his instinct and doesn't eat her -- he wants to protect her. As he pushes himself and struggles to communicate with her, other zombies take notice and are slowly affected as well.
And that's where I'll stop. I almost feel like saying anything more would spoil the universe. Sometimes part of the fun in watching the movie is experiencing its world first-hand, instead of reading about it. I gotta say, though -- I do find some of it pretty unique and original (I'll mention it in the "Spoilers" section).
Warm Bodies is definitely NOT like another zombie apocalypse horror survival-type movie.
A ZOMBIE'S PERSPECTIVE
In Warm Bodies, we see things through R's perspective. There's a lot of voice-over narration and that's R explaining everything to us -- his world, his thoughts, how he wants to verbally / physically communicate with others but he can't (due to his zombie nature restricting those expressions).
It's... interesting. I've never thought about how a zombie would view the world, let alone what kind of thoughts it would have. According to Warm Bodies, a zombie seems pretty human -- just encased in a non-expressive body that needs to eat humans to survive.
HUMOUR IN A ZOMBIE MOVIE
A lot of the humour in Warm Bodies comes from R's voice-over narration. It's very straight-to-point and, keeping to his zombie nature, pretty monotone and non-expressive. While in a high-paced situation, R's non-expressive narration is a funny juxtaposition. I'll mention one of my favourite thoughts of his in the "Spoilers" section.
ACTING/CHARACTERS
I've got no complaints about the acting. Nicholas Hoult is great as R. I gotta wonder how many cuts they had to take between scenes, 'cuz I don't remember him blinking at all. And he almost always kept the same dead, "zombie" look.
R in his typical dead, "zombie" look.
CHARACTERS
R is just a sweetheart. I think almost everybody could relate to a character like him -- being nervous around somebody you like; trying not to act silly; trying to be cool; trying to impress; overthinking things and being way too self-conscious of your own actions; wanting to say something but just not able to. I know I've been there before.
Unfortunately I don't remember very much about Julie, or the other human characters. I remember liking M, R's zombie friend. He has some pretty funny one-liners, and his characterization is kinda sweet.
MUSIC
The music here is great. In a movie where the main character is unable to verbally and physically express himself, music plays a huge role in getting those thoughts and emotions across. And it succeeds here. The soundtrack is mainly comprised of 80's tunes and some modern tracks.
Now... where the heck is the soundtrack CD?! Hahaha, once Warm Bodies was over, I went to the nearest music store, intent on buying the soundtrack. And I couldn't find it. I'm relieved to know that I wasn't the only one interested in the music. Just Google "warm bodies soundtrack yahoo" and you'll find a lot questions about the soundtrack listing.
In terms of the music score for Warm Bodies (where there is a soundtrack for), I barely noticed it -- which means it worked well. There was one track that was quirky and I thought it enhanced the whole quirky charm of the movie.
MOVIE VS. THE NOVEL
I'll fill this in when I've read the novel. But I will say this:
This is so embarrassing, but when Warm Bodies was first released, I didn't know that it was based off of a novel. At some point during the movie, I thought, What an original idea. I like it. And for once, it's not based off a book! Hahaha... *facepalms*
April 21, 2013: Okay, so I've had the chance to read Warm Bodies, and I have a good amount to say. I'm going to start off with: I enjoyed the novel. It has its own moments of tenderness and also goes off into its own focus.
I would say that the novel and the movie are separate entities. R is different in the novel. Julie is very different in the novel. The things that happen around them, while most of the key issues are similar, the last half of the novel and movie are completely different from each other.
The tone is also very different. Both movie and novel have comedic moments, but the movie is more light, and way more hopeful. While the Warm Bodies novel does carry some hope to it, the tone is more sombre, serious, and even a bit... hopeless. I find that the novel is more reflective, exploring more the culture of zombie life and the significance of being alive.
If I had to say which one is better overall, I wouldn't be able to. I find that they are too different to be really comparable. The movie and the novel have their own unique voice. I could say this: I like Julie's characterization in the novel more (she isn't the perfect girl and she actually has a personality). I like the hopeful tone in the movie more. I say it's worth reading the novel at least once after watching the movie, to see that universe in its entirety.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Warm Bodies is fun. It's one of those charming, sweet, feel-good movies, where after watching it once, you kinda just want to experience it again. At least, I feel that way.
Thanks for reading! If you want some more input about something I didn't cover, feel free to ask. :)
Now
I'll do the scrolly thing so you don't see the "Spoilers" section
right away. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers"
section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
Before seeing the full trailer, here's what I knew:
-R, a zombie, fell in love with Julie, a human
-R wanted to communicate with her
Yeah, I only knew the bare basics. I figured that R was going to develop human characteristics -- I never thought that his development would actually turn him back into a human. I also never thought that R and Julie's interactions would affect other zombies and slowly turn them back into humans.
The trailer also showed R fully turned as a human. I mean, what the heck?! Now we don't even need to wonder.
Just as a refresher, here's the trailer for Warm Bodies:
---------------------------------------------
I do find some of it [its world] pretty unique and original
It's kinda interesting to think that some zombies feel conflicted about eating other people. It's also kinda interesting to think that zombies sorta have a choice when it comes to "turning" a person. A flesh wound will turn a person; eating their brains will not. There's also the added idea that eating the brains will give zombies a peek into that person's memories, which I think is very original. That would totally explain why zombies crave brains so much.
The whole "cure" idea for turning zombies back into humans is really sweet, too: connection / contact with others.
---------------------------------------------
I'll mention one of my favourite thoughts of his [R's thoughts]
I don't remember exactly what was happening, but R was doing his best not to be creepy around Julie. Then something happened and he thought, Oh my God -- I could die all over again. That is just way too funny... 'cuz it's soooo relatable. Making a big deal over something so minor (not being creepy around the person you like -- I think that's what was happening in that scene).
April 21, 2013: Okay, so I've watched this movie again and I know what scene I'm talking about: R implied that he had a name and Julie asked what it was. Then R was having a hard time trying to pronounce it -- to the point where he thought, This day is not going well for me -- I could die all over again. I found it so funny because it was something so minor.
If
you read my spoilers, thank for reading! Now to finish with more
scrolly things. If you disagree with anything or just want to say
something, feel free to comment :D
