'Warm Bodies' won't leave you cold

Some of us were wary about the future of undead-boy-meets-sullen-girl romances, after the underwhelming "Twilight" finale.

Good news. I'm sure anyone who has seen "Warm Bodies" will concur that the undead love story genre has been fully exhumed.

Call this a romance for everyone. There's love overcoming apocalyptic obstacles. There's brain-guzzling zombies. There's comedian Rob Corddry grunting around in cadaverous makeup. And let's not forget the perhaps excessively Indie soundtrack, apparently necessary to sustain teenagers' attention spans.

The film kicks off with elements from horror flicks across the ages.

Some abhorrent disease has triggered zombie-like effects in most of the population. While the remainder of the human race is holed up in an impromptu fortress, zombies slowly roam the suburbs and airport, where they grunt, drool and occasionally feast on the living.

There's one important difference about this classic story line, though. From the beginning, the audience is privy to the internal musings of a young zombie - he can't remember his name past "Rrrr" - played by Nicholas Hoult. R is a zombie who's hard to dislike. He's relatable, and kind of cute, in a blank-eyed kind of way.

Zombie life is tough going, we learn from our zombie hero's sardonic stream of conscious.

He's lonely. He's insecure. He's depressed about the prospect of eventually devolving into a homicidal skeleton, apparently the endgame for all zombies.

That is, until he stumbles across Julie, played by earthy Teresa Palmer, a living, rifle-wielding hottie who can fearlessly blow away zombies that threaten her friends.

Instantly smitten, R rescues Julie from a certain brain-munching and stashes her in a safe place.

Here unfolds their unlikely bonding and romance. As they grow closer, R starts to show hints of improving from his zombie state.

There are some challenges R faces in courting his survivalist lady. For instance, he can only grunt a syllable at a time. Also, he recently ate her boyfriend's brains.

Still, I can all but guarantee viewers will be left with warm and fuzzy feelings from their interactions.

The movie is also well paced. A significant zombie event culminates at the finale, offering some exciting visuals and fun action scenes. Throughout, R's self-deprecating thoughts are generally clever and well-timed, keeping the audience chuckling.

The acting is kind of hard to rate. I felt a little sorry for Hoult, whose acting chops were well displayed in the film "About a Boy." Here, he doesn't get much chance to flex his talents, as his role entails grunting and showing minimal facial expression.

I've heard Teresa Palmer compared to Kristen Stewart, and they definitely share some qualities.

But there's something very warm about Palmer that keeps viewers rooting for her. Can we say that about Stewart?

Dave Franco, basically just a younger clone of his brother James, is adequate as Julie's darkly hunky and ill-fated boyfriend. Corddry is underused as R's zombie bosom buddy. His few moments in the film are hilarious, and he gives us another lovable zombie to enjoy up close.

John Malkovich makes brief appearances as Julie's justifiably over-protective father. He's believable as an intransigent zombie-killer, but I wonder if there would be actors better suited for such a tough-guy role.

For such an absurd premise, the movie is pulled off pretty well. I heard a teenager remarking that he nearly cried at the end.

Maybe you won't have that reaction, but you'll at least warm up to zombies a little.

Grade: B +