When you hear Pride and Prejudice, you think of Jane Austen, you think of a period piece with period costumes, you think of Mr. Darcy… well, you’ll see all of those in this twisted re-telling of the classic piece but there’s a catch, the Bennets are armed and battling… you guessed it, zombies!
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is an adaptation of Seth Grahame Smith’s novel of the same name, directed by Burr Steers (17 Again, Charlie St. Cloud) and stars Lily James as our favorite literary heroine, Elizabeth Bennet. Some of us knew her as Downton Abbey‘s resident wild child, Lady Rose McClare but she gained international prominence and everyone came to love her as the sweet and kind Ella in last year’s Cinderella and now, Liz Bennet is like the combination of those two – she’s kind but she’s feisty and she isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
The film boasts a very English ensemble cast with aside from James, has Sam Riley, Matt Smith, Douglas Booth, Bella Heathcote and many more – with such impressive talents, there’s no question that they delivered and embodied each of their characters to a fault. As much as I’d like to love this film, I have to say though that with such a classic story with almost everyone associates with and studied so closely over the years, I was expecting more from the screenplay. This film is a classic case which shows that it isn’t enough just to have the talented cast, the amazing costumes and the perfect backdrop, you have to have a good script too – one that isn’t too gimmicky. I enjoyed the film thoroughly and had a few good laughs don’t get me wrong, but despite all the incredible things happening there’s just something lacking and I needed a little bit more on why the zombies came to be.
Looks like War and Peace and Vampires won’t be coming to fruitition after all..
-F