Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
dir. Burr Steers
Mashup films can either be quite fun and underrated like "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" or a bit too serious for it's own good like "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter". "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" seems to strike a good balance between these two extremes by not only being a good adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel but also being a fun, entertaining and elegant zombie killfest with some impressive action set pieces. However, one of the most glaring flaws of this film is that it seems that a lot of edited out to meet its PG-13 rating making about half of the action sequences rather bloodless and sanitized. There is still enough gruesomeness to suffice but it felt like I was watching a made for television version that is more on par with an episode of "The Walking Dead" than a theatrical feature. That aside though, the core of the film is still good with impressive characterizations of the book's classic leads including another great central performance by Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet. She seems to have a great talent for taking classic literary characters and making them all new again as she did last year with her outstanding portrayal of "Cinderella" in the new Disney live action version. She and the rest of the cast make the humor and elegance of the story stand out without it being too tongue-in-cheek.
Overall, Austen's shared universe (yes, I just said those words) gets the zombie treatment without taking away any of what has made her books timeless.
Rating: Three Reels out of Five
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