Warm Bodies 2013

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: There are so many clever lines and bits of physical comedy worth revisiting that the movie seems like a likely cult classic, but it's more inclusive than that. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: I don't know if the first zombie date flick is a step forward or backward for civilization as a whole, but I can say that "Warm Bodies" pulls off a pretty impressive trick: It has its "Twilight" and goofs on it too. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: An improbable romance sweetened with appealing performances and buoyed by one of the better cute meets in recent romantic comedy ... Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Warm Bodies pulls a nifty trick in the red-hot zombie genre: It lacks a brain, though it eats plenty of them. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: Hoult and Palmer carry "Warm Bodies" with a delightful conviction their characters' forbidden, "Romeo and Juliet"-like bond can be played like other movie romances, albeit with an obvious twist. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Takes its premise painfully literally, resulting in a series of unlikely developments guaranteed to get hardcore zombie-movie fans frothing with rage -- if they don't doze off first. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: No, it's not the best zombie film, but it may well be the cutest. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: A muddled teenpic. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The whole of "Warm Bodies," in both its comic and dramatic strains, lacks a certain ... what? Ooomph? Intensity? Invention? Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The movie has a wry sense of humor that manages to coexist with its all-you-need-is-love theme. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: You'd have to be a zombie not to enjoy it. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Warm Bodies is a sweetly funny and touching riff on Beauty and the Beast or Romeo and Juliet -- if the Beast feasted on flesh or Romeo came back from the dead. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Warm Bodies is a funnier and pleasantly cheaper-grade movie than Twilight that aims to draw in both Bella & Edward lovers and haters. Read more

Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter: This character-driven genre meld could have used more edge and energy, and less obvious message-mongering, but it scores in terms of atmosphere, humor and charm. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: In doing a little genre bending of romantic schmaltz and horror cheese - some fundamental zombie mythology is turned on its head - the film breathes amusing new life into both. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: The likable if not remarkable Warm Bodies is the world's first romantic zombie comedy, told from the point of view of a dead guy. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: This is a love story, done with charm, humor, and tenderness. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: In a genre that's grown so exhausted - what are we, up to "Night of the Resident Evil Dead Part 23" by now? - "Warm Bodies" not only brings in some fresh blood, but has brains to spare. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: [Levine] finds strategies in Warm Bodies to make what has long been considered a deathless tale undead in a new way. Read more

Miriam Bale, New York Daily News: Hoult's genuinely awkward charm and Palmer's tomboyish wholesomeness disarm an audience overfamiliar with this story. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: It's not that I disapprove of zombie-human dating. I just don't like having my brain eaten by dead writing. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's like the Capulets and the Montagues all over again - only the Montagues don't have a pulse. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It wants to be funny, charming, scary, and dramatic. It ends up being a little of each but not successful as any one. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: This is a bloody fresh twist on the zombie genre. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Warm Bodies even suggests that true love can help the right zombie grow a new heart. That's a con job that makes Bodies lukewarm at best. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Warm Bodies" sounds a lot better in theory than it turns out to be in practice. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: We're left with a setup that guarantees only 15 minutes of wholehearted enjoyment, followed by 80 minutes of intermittent mild amusement. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: These bodies, whether human or zombie, feel room-temperature at best. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Warm Bodies" is surely the zombie love story of the season. Read more

Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Though on the surface falling in line with any "Twilight" film, "Warm Bodies" is better produced, acted and written, which isn't saying a lot. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Though R's mind is nimble in (very witty) voiceover, out loud he can only express himself in a series of groans and grumbles--as touching a metaphor for love-struck adolescence as we may see at the movies this year. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A good-natured romantic zombie comedy that plays like a tamer version of The Twilight Saga. Read more

Tim Alamenciak, Toronto Star: It's not gruesome enough to please genre fans, but not nearly funny enough to be a comedy either. It tries to be a mixture of both and fails. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: It's all very silly and sweet in that indie-nostalgic way that Levine ('The Wackness' and '50/50') has made his own. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: "Warm Bodies" offers a welcome twist on the living-dead canon, even if the decidedly femme-skewed results ignore pretty much every rule of the genre. Read more

Chris Packham, Village Voice: The film's intentions are way too good for its own good, producing bloodless romance and more shamefully bloodless carnage. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: Warm Bodies doesn't even have the conviction to follow through on its lame ideas, let alone its good ones. It's a mostly terrible film that misses the opportunity to be a merely mediocre one. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Fans of "The Walking Dead" can keep moving; there's nothing to see here. Read more