Warm Bodies: A Love Story With a Bite

The film Warm Bodies closed Feb. 28. In fact, at precisely 8:48 p.m.

I have waited to see this movie since it was released Feb. 1, but was kept busy by schoolwork. I had found out the movie was closing that week, so I rushed toward Camera 12 in downtown San Jose for the 7:05 p.m. showing.

What can I say? Overall, I loved this movie. It was creative, aesthetic regarding special effects, and even romantic, although in a way that perhaps many would find unpleasant. After all, who would want to be the girl seduced by a curious zombie ... in fact, the very one who killed her boyfriend and ate his brain?

The story begins with "R," the strikingly handsome post-pubescent zombie who has no memory of his life as a human being, but is capable of mature thought. He shuffles around a deserted airport, grunting and having internal monologues in his head. We find out that there had been a mysterious apocalypse on Earth and that there are only a handful of human survivors. Then we meet Julie, the daughter of a man who acts as the leader and protector of the remaining people and puts his power in keeping humans and zombies separated.

However, during a mission to scavenge some medicine in a deserted lab, the gap  closes in, as Julie and R encounter each other for the first time. When a sudden unexpected emotion sparks in R's heart after he eats Julie's boyfriend's brains and stores his memories, R saves Julie's life from his other kind by escaping and keeping her hostage in an abandoned airplane he calls home.

Throughout the course of a few days, terrified Julie warms up to R. Slowly but surely, R begins to love, and through love, slowly transforms back into a human. As this feeling becomes real for him again, the other zombies become "infected,"  first beginning to dream, then recalling memories, and finally showing signs of affection and care for themselves.

The story ends with the whole zombie nation being human again, and the battle comes to an end. R, despite his transformation and falling in love with Julie, never remembers his name. However this doesn't matter to the new couple, who sit on a ledge overlooking their city, smiling at each other, watching the tall thick wall that once separated human beings and zombies collapse, signifying a reunion and the gap closing in completely.

The only thing that bothered me about the film were the parallels to the first Twilight movie. Like in Twilight, we take the story of a human girl and a dead guy who meet by accident, where the guy is handsome but a zombie, curious about his new friend but also craving to tear apart and consume her body. Some scenes are also vaguely recreated. When Julie slept, R watched her, just as Edward did with Bella. Julie also asks R who he is, not knowing whether he's a zombie or maybe something else. And of course, Julie asking "Why did you save me?" - a parallel to Bella asking Edward why he saved her from being hit by a car.

But I suppose these elements are what made this movie, regardless of similarities, adorable and even a tearjerker. I sat with tears streaming down my cheeks for a good portion of the film, but I left happy.

If you can't live a cute love story in reality, hey, you can at least live it through the world of movies.