Disney Channel 'ZOMBIES' Movie Review

What could go so wrong, with a girl and a zombie?

Disney Channel’s Original Movie ‘ZOMBIES’ delivers out-of-this-world choreography, the catchiest of songs, a stunning love story and a strong message that everybody needs to hear out.

Seabrooke has been divided for over 50 years when a mysterious green haze took over the air – everyone who touched it, became a zombie. One side of Seabrooke stays the same aesthetically pleasing self, with only the humans living there. Whilst on the other side of the wall, we have ‘Zombie Land’, the dusty and mouldy place all Zombies were placed – in order to keep Zombies and Humans separated.

That is, until Zombies are given the opportunity to go to school with the other human students. What could possibly go wrong?

Our lead male, Zed (Milo Manheim), is a charming and optimistic zombie who desperately wants to fit in with the humans and join the football team; although his father has concerns that they won’t accept him and his dreams will be crushed. To achieve his goals, he messes around with his Z-Band, turning himself in to a full zombie for the games for an extra energy boost.

Our lead female, Addison (Meg Donnelly), has always dreamed of being a cheerleader. Like Zed, she could be known as different, due to her white hair hidden under fake, golden, luscious curls. Addison doesn’t choose to hide her true identity, however, ever since she was a child, her parents had taught her to do so. This is the only way she knows how to fit in. Addison fails to see the negative side of zombies and only sees them purely as students just like herself. She opens the town’s eyes up to how the world could be if everybody accepted each other and themselves.

Both of these students have to become the person other people want them to be, in order to be able to live out their dreams. In Seabrooke, different is taught to be a negative – although Zed and Addison have other plans and decide to break that norm. They begin to refuse the rules of how people who are ‘different’ should be treated and fight for a change, making sure to consistently support each other with staying true to themselves.

“It’s time things change around here.” – Addison

In true Disney Channel style, the villain of ‘ZOMBIES’ is a lead’s relative – although this time round, there’s a twist and he is, dare I say… likeable? Bucky is Addison’s cousin and head of the cheerleading squad. His thoughts towards zombies are completely different to Addison’s and he does everything in his power to stop her from falling in love with one and letting them think that they can partake in high school activities.

Now, being as this is a Disney Channel movie, we obviously weren’t expecting to see any zombies eating the student’s brains – but we do come close. Bucky has his little cheer-minions hack in to the zombies Z-Bands, the only device stopping them from becoming brain-eating zombies, and turns it off. Cue three zombies we all love going in to full on zombie mode, showing everyone the monsters they truly are… Or at least the monsters Bucky assumes them to be. Usually, a villain is given pay-back in some shape or form and is then neglected from everyone for the rest of the movie, however, Disney decided to take it in another direction. When Bucky is almost attacked by Zed, Zed fights through his brain-eating urges and stops himself – leading Bucky to question everything he has previously believed.

During what could possibly be a brand new anthem about standing up for yourself and making a change, Bucky is torn between what to believe and what he had just witnessed. It’s an in-depth look in to how things could be if even the worst of people would just open their eyes and see that everyone is normal and no-one should be looked upon as ‘different’ in a bad light.

“If different was a superpower, we’d be so flawless.” 

At the cheer championships, when Bucky’s whole routine comes crashing down, the zombies and humans come together to finish off the routine and finally cheer for the change they’ve been rooting for throughout the whole movie. To start off, Bucky watches disappointedly from the sidelines, still unsure of whether or not he should contribute to a performance involving zombies. With the help of Zed’s little zombie sister, Zoey, she gives him the confidence boost he needs and joins the floor – embracing the new world of Seabrooke, with everybody else following behind.

Now, let’s finally talk about the love-story of the year from Disney Channel. Addison catches Zed’s attention on their first day of school, when he notices her walking in with all the other humans. Zed catches Addison’s attention when they’re both hiding in the zombie safe room, accidentally punching Zed in the face when she noticed that he was a zombie.

The pair have such a healthy bond throughout the movie, with no extreme fallouts, just the quick ten minutes of Bucky’s minions trying to keep them a part and an almost egg incident at the beginning. Zed is so engulfed in the human world and their demands, that he eventually takes Addison to ‘Zombie Land’, where she can witness for herself what zombies are really like and how they have fun.  They are most certainly two teens that will be looked up to by the viewers and can we just say… trust us on this one… they may possibly be the Troy and Gabriella of this generation.

What makes this movie so important, is that like the real world, these youths are the ones standing up for themselves and making a change, not the adults. We are finally beginning to except that nobody will ever be the same and we have to embrace who we are without being judgemental. Sure, we can still ask questions here and there, but there will be no dwelling, as this generation is about to bring the world a whole new revolution, break stereotypes and we are so here for it.

A round of applause also to all the actors who took part in this movie. Meg Donnelly is taking female empowerment to a whole new level in this movie and she shined every time the camera was on her, she most certainly belongs on TV! Seeing Milo Manheim in his debut movie as a lead role, we know for sure that he was born to be a super-star. He is so incredibly talented in everything he does in this movie and we will be sat in anticipation for his next projects! Every cast member brought something to the movie, whether their roles were small or big and we will enjoy watching them over and over again in ZOMBIES and in future projects.

So, make sure you go and watch ‘ZOMBIES’ and let their message stick permanently inside your head. But also don’t forget to sing, dance and have fun while doing so!

Disney Channel ‘ZOMBIES’ is available now to watch. 

Have you watched ZOMBIES? What are your thoughts on the movie? Let us know by tweeting us over at @CelebMix.

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