Review: ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ has lots of fun with seemingly absurd combination

Posted on February 12, 2016

By MARK VIOLA

I’ve never read “Pride and Prejudice,” or any other novel written by Jane Austen. I have, however, read “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” Now that might seem like a non sequitur, but Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote “Abraham Lincoln,” which by the way was a much better book than its 2012 film adaptation, is also the man responsible for writing “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” For those history and literature fans who hate him, let it be known he was not responsible for “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.” That was somebody else.

Now I was never a big zombie fan, at least until “The Walking Dead” arrived, and I started watching that because the series’ original creator was Frank Darabont, who directed two of my favorite movies of all time: “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile.” Quick trivia note: both those films are based on Stephen King stories.

And now I do believe we have reached non sequitur level, so back to Jane Austen and zombies.
I was intrigued by the movie adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” albeit not terribly hopeful, if for no other reason than the idea of seeing a period zombie film. That seemed new.

I have to admit I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this movie. It’s not a great film, and not one we’re going to remember 2016 for when he look back on the year’s cinematic offerings, but it does a good job of taking Austen’s original story and adding zombies, even though there is more to it than just that. I was also surprised–after reading a quick plot synopsis of the original novel–by how closely it sticks to that story, plot point to plot point. That’s a blessing and a curse, and you can keep at times the two stories straining against each other, but for the most part, it works pretty well and you can see that some solid thought went into adapting the narrative for its new home.

I don’t think anyone is going into a movie called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” to see high art, and if you do, you’re going to be disappointed, but this movie gave me just what I was expecting from its title and I was quite entertained during its 107-minute runtime.

I really had a lot more fun with “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” than I thought it would. It’s still not a great movie, but it is enjoyable for what it is, a story combining Jane Austen and zombies.

The film is rated PG-13 for zombie violence and action, and brief suggestive material.

(This is a abbreviated version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

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