Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Movie Review

Confession time. I have never read Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, nor have I watched any film adaptations of the source material. Because of this, I have to ask, were there any likable main characters in the book? If so, They didn’t seem to carry over to “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”. Writer/director Burr Steers adapts Seth Grahame-Smith’s parody novel to mixed results.

Set in what I would call an alternative-universe to the world Jane Austin created, Elizabeth Bennet (Lily James) and her sisters have trained in martial arts since a young age in order to be able to defend themselves against zombies. When the Bennet sisters are not decapitating the living-dead, they are attending balls, in hopes of finding husbands. Elizabeth however refuses to give up her fighting ways for any man.

Despite not being considered the fairest of the sisters, it seems that Elizabeth has grabbed the attention of multiple gentlemen. They include the military man George Wickham (Jack Houston), Parson Collins (Matt Smith), and a complicated attraction with devoted zombie slayer Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley). Each of the three men I found to be complete tools, though Mr. Darcy had his own reasons for being the way he was.

I won’t deny that “PPZ” has its share of fun moments, most of them involving zombie heads being blown off. Also, Matt Smith has the single stand out performance here. Unfortunately the film isn’t nearly as entertaining as it should be. I felt that there were too many missed opportunities. Lena Headley’s character Lady Catherine de Bourgh should have been given more to do, even if it resulted in not being faithful to the book. Much like Smith’s character, de Bourgh could have added some much needed fun. “PPZ” isn’t bad, but it isn’t anything more than simply OK.

By: Marc Ferman