Z-O-M-B-I-E-S

Release Date: February 16, 2018

Watch Date: October 23, 2024

“Welcome to Seabrook, a suburban town preoccupied with uniformity, traditions and pep rallies…until one groundbreaking semester when students from Zombietown integrate into Seabrook High School. As the human and zombie students struggle to coexist, a budding friendship between a cheerleader named Addision (Meg Donnelly) and a zombie named Zed (Milo Manheim) could unite their high school and community for good.”

---

   Alright, so, this was our daughter’s pick. Now she’s three, I know what she likes, so I kind of really only gave her two options, this film or ‘Descendants’. It was, actually, unsurprising she would pick this movie. She loves zombies as a concept.

   Now, was I little excited to watch this film? Definitely. Bob has been making me feel bad for even wanting to continue the High School Musical series, but I know Disney’s got some good Disney Channel original films that have that same feel and ‘Z-O-M-B-I-E-S’, despite being a highly annoying film title to type, definitely scratches that itch.

   There’s big dance numbers that involve the entire cast. There’s a plot with racist undertones which seems even more relevant in a post 2020 world. Is it an extremely predictable plot? Sure. Does it propose racism can be solved with cheerleading? Yep. But that doesn’t really stop it from being fun.

   This is about as High School Musical of a feel as Disney Channel movies can come. That’s not a bad thing. High School Musical worked for a reason, and became a successful franchise for a reason and ‘Z-O-M-B-I-E-S’ seems on track to do the same, especially considering it’s currently filming it’s fourth installment. I’ve watched a lot of Disney Channel original movies just because I’m a sucker and nothing else has ever come as close.

   But the songs. Man the songs. They’re good. The first time. But what this movie loves is a good reprise. It loves to do the exact same song in a different key, or a different speed. And okay, that’s not bad when you’re taking an upbeat song about how something is going to be your day or whatever and changing it around a little. But when the exact same two characters sing the exact same song, both within the context of a romantic moment where they’re alone, and the only difference is one is slower than the other, you didn’t add anything new. It just feels lazy.

   And the ending, with the cut scenes of scenes we just saw, basically recapping the entire movie with a song about accepting your own differences. Let’s hit the nose a little less on the head guys. Please? It was so cheesy I think it hurt, and Bob couldn’t stop laughing through the entire thing.

   It’s our son’s pick next, so, we might not even end up on a Disney film, so you won’t get a write up for that. He doesn’t like being restrained by the Disney limitations. But I also highly doubt we’ll be watching the sequel to this film, which means you and I will just have to stay on the edge of our seat for ‘Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2’.

   We’re going to have to think of a better way to type that title.