Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Film Review

Okay, I'm beyond late in posting my film review of Screen Gems' Pride and Prejudice and Zombies film starring  &

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

starring , , Bella Heathcote, Douglas Booth, 

Jack Huston and Matt Smith. 

Watch the official trailer

Official synopsis for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES is a fresh twist on Jane Austen’s widely celebrated novel. A mysterious plague has fallen upon 19th century England, the land is overrun with the undead and feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is a master of martial arts and weaponry. Casting aside personal and social prejudices, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy must unite on the blood-soaked battlefield to rid the country of the zombie menace and discover their true love for one another...

I thought this movie was...just okay. I neither dislike nor hate it. There were a few good moments here and there. It would've been good though without the Zombies mashup. I didn't care much for the zombies parts, but this was what the movie was about and it was a slightly different take. It's not the traditional P&P adaptation, as it was a Pride and Prejudice (based on Jane Austen's timeless classic novel)...with Zombies (added and adapted by Seth Grahame-Smith) in the mix. It was basically, a mashup parody and wasn't meant to be taken seriously. Having said that, I thought Lily James was good as Elizabeth Bennet (though I liked her more as Cinderella, but that's just me) and she was badass as a Zombie slayer, who is a master of martial arts and weaponry. She did very good in her action/physical fight scenes. She wasn't just a feisty heroine, she was a fighter too. Sam Riley, on the other hand, was not handsome enough to tempt me as Mr. Darcy, lol. He wasn't too bad though. No offense, and this just might be me, but "there's something (un)pleasant about his mouth when he speaks..." or rather his whispering, raspy voice bothers me every time he speaks. Other than that, he was fine...as in, he wasn't too bad, especially when he's not talking much and just brood, and stare at Elizabeth, lol! Elizabeth & Darcy in this adaptation, does have a decent chemistry, but most of their scenes were, unfortunately, mostly spent on bickering, kicking, and fighting each other (I did LOL and enjoyed watching their amusing argument during that first proposal fight scene when Elizabeth rejected Darcy's marriage proposal. I thought it was hilarious when Elizabeth kicked him and throw a few books at him. Not too mentioned, she started popping those buttons from his shirt, while Darcy got even and popped a button from Elizabeth's gown and it looked like he was checking her boobs out, haha!) or fighting the undead, which detracts from their inherent romantic tension rather than enhancing it. They did have a couple sweet moments (including Darcy's romantic second proposal scene) towards the end, but still...I guess, I was hoping to see more.

Bella Heathcote as Jane Bennet & Douglas Booth as Mr. Bingley were cute and adorable, but they didn't have much screen time together. The younger Bennet sisters were okay, Lena Headey as Lady Catherine was, interestingly, not unpleasant and younger looking (witch an eye patch in one eye) in this version, and Jack Huston as Mr. Wickham was...let's just say, he wasn't too bad here even though he's still the bad guy. Matt Smith as Mr. Collins in this movie was annoyingly good. He played Collins' awkwardness very well. Poor Charlotte Lucas, she got engaged to him (and married him soon) after Elizabeth rejected his awkward marriage proposal, lol.

Overall, while this movie is not quite my cup of tea (as far as the zombies parts), I thought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was still decent (at least, the P&P parts when there weren't too many over the top sword fighting, action scenes) and not too bad of a movie to watch (especially when there's nothing good to watch on TV or on Netflix). The cinematography was good as well as the score. A nice ensemble cast. The period costumes were pretty. It had a good visual and sound effects (though I wasn't impressed in particular with the basement scene, where the Bennet sisters were bantering while sparring in preparation for the next possible attack. The room's lighting there was too dark and you can barely see the faces of the Bennet sisters), for the most part. Do I recommend you see this (if you haven't seen it yet)? Only if you don't mind the mixing of genre (P&P with zombies) and, then, by all means see this movie. If you don't like the zombies genre and would much prefer just the P&P parts, this movie is not for you. You best skip it (you won't miss much as far as the P&P story goes, just different actors playing same characters with their own interpretations) and just stick to re-watching the P&P (2005) movie or your preferred P&P adaptation (there are plenty to choose from).