Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2: Dixie Saves the Day! (Mummy, I'm a Zombie / Dixie and the Zombie Rebellion) - review

2014 (Spain)

2014 Lionsgate Double Pack with Daddy, I'm a Zombie DVD R(2)

Contains mild spoilers.

I may not have been the target audience for the cutesy zombiefied animated coming of age drama Daddy, I'm a Zombie, what with its focus on girlfriends, boyfriends and the hardships of teen life at a time the world was moments away from total undead subjugation. But it was hard not to acknowledge the tight cohesive moral story, the imaginative but respectful adaptation of the zombie trope for children and the solid if not spectacular production. It was what it was, and as a rainy school holiday movie treat it satisfied my zombie urge and delighted the littlens, and you can see why they moved for a sequel.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie was a complete story; threads weren't left hanging, the moral message was delivered, the foes metaphorically and physically if one believes Dixie Grimm's (voiced in English by Kimberely Wharton) dream was real were vanquished and everything was left happy ever after. It was always going to be a hard task to fashion a second outing that provided the necessary fan service and call backs, as well as an original and coherent story so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2 (UK title) aka Mummy, I'm a Zombie (USA), aka Dixie and the Zombie Rebellion as it was titled everywhere else (trans. Dixie y la rebelión zombi) does indeed ultimately struggle.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie followed a simple formula. Dixie has an accident, enters a self-contained dream world, has an exciting quest, and in the process learns some things about herself; it's a successful, intelligent and effortless The Wizard of Oz retelling. But just because something works once doesn't mean it will again. From the start Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2 has that feeling of a film at odds with itself. A film that doesn't really know what it wants to be, content to stutter and trip its way through a convoluted and incoherent premise and story, through to thoroughly unsatisfying ending, that was probably as much a relief to all involved as it is the viewer. And that's the main crux. Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2 has that feel of a film everyone thought would easily fall together but which became increasingly strained and difficult to work with. It's like someone jotted down a rough story and a few ideas which all agreed would probably be good enough, then realising things weren't going so well kept hammering at it till what was left was an incongruent mess; utterly unidentifiable.

Dixie's accident is now a contrived emergency appendix operation and the anaesthetic her gateway back to the zombie-land, her story some convoluted lazy rehash of the first, of the evil Nebulosa (Karen McCarthy) and a quest to recharge the Azoth stone, and the moral message some missed opportunity to do with authenticity and superficiality. I say zombie-land; for some reason directors Ricardo Ramón and Beñat Beitia have decided to ditch the rich alien world instead opting for the real one, but allowing the zombies, skeletons, ghosts and ghoulies of the first free reign to move back and forth. They've also allowed Dixie to remain alive and human, disappointingly overlooking one of the delights of the first film; that shared journey with her slowly learning and accepting she was not only a zombie but probably dead. It's like the easy option was taken each and every time; and though if I'm being kind I can see what they may have been trying to achieve, the film loses much of its identity by not having the clear demarcation and by not exploring her subtle and nuanced struggle with mortality. I'll briefly mention a real zombie bite and infection, and an interesting escalation in the safe child friendly proceedings which could have had deeply exciting and curious connotations if explored, which again was squandered.

Now it would be very easy to brand Daddy, I'm a Zombie 2, a cheap cash-in; an effortless insipid direct to DVD production put together by committee with no real passion, but I do have to remember I'm not the target audience. Garnering the thoughts of my two willing co-conspirators didn't help its case though; the youngest providing neither a thumbs up or thumbs down and the eldest lampooning it for its insultingly inconsistent and simple plot. For a film about authenticity and having the courage to be honest, it's ironic too, that its biggest weakness was incorrectly diagnosing adherence to the formula as the franchises strength, rather than Dixie's real and identifiable personal and emotional journey, and thinking as long as it superficially forced this, all would be good. A real missed opportunity - 3/10.

Steven@WTD.

Resident Evil: Degeneration - review

2008 (Japan)

2009 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray R(All)

Contains mild spoilers.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with Sony's CG animation departure from the increasingly over the top on screen antics brought to the big screen by Paul W.S. Anderson. If anything being a return to the franchise's video game roots Sony should be applauded. It's no longer the Milla Jovovich show instead going back to a time of feisty and moody young heroes battling geopolitical greed and corruption and trying to protect a world from big baddies with some really nasty biochemical goodies. I've read the film is ultimately fan service, written for those invested in the deep convoluted story arcs and quiet suppressed sexual tensions; Resident Evil 4.5 without the game-play. Now I've played through RE4, 5 and 6 and respect the film for playing out as an elongated cut scene, but this is ultimately the heart of the film's problems too.

The thing about video game cut scenes is they're intrinsically, and I may be opening myself up for some heat here, boring. Good cut scene design is to keep it brief and to use them as extremely satisfying rewards and momentary respite for completing a particular intense sequence of game play. You make it through the airport finally scurrying outside to be rescued just before the zombies catch up; cut scene of shooting guns, the survivors hugging one another, a bit of exposition to set up the next chapter, then back to shooting zombies in the head. The problem here is the interspersed interactive game play between each cut scene is more cut scene. There's still the 'BIG' dramatic cut scenes but the action in between that you feel you should be playing is played out for you. It's not you running to the doors, it's you watching someone else running towards the doors. And there's a problem with this.

I wanted to like Resident Evil: Degeneration, it played with some nice ideas, the action scenes were entertaining, the dialogue pretty crisp and coherent, the voice acting good and the animation competent; it's just whatever I tried, namely coffee, opening all the curtains, opening a second screen on my lap with saucy pictures of Milla on, I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I'll freely admit that it probably didn't help that I'm not au fait with the full RE mythology, having not played 1-3 and if I'm honest I didn't pay too much attention to the cut scenes and story of 4,5 and 6, and as such maybe the film just isn't for me. 

Putting aside the question as to whether Resident Evil: Degeneration is deserving of automatic praise because it stays true to its origins against Anderson's bastardisation, my main problem with it is that the story is incredibly bland and tiresome. Derivative narratives can work to a certain extent in video games because they're not the main focus. For most action titles the story is there to enable some amazing fire fights and set pieces; take it out and critique it in any serious way and most likely it'll all fall apart. With some pretty uninspiring whingey characters, cookie-cutter villains and weary locations there's never any moments to really get excited about and even the final boss fight, which lasts a good half of the film never gets the heart racing, which is a shame as there's not an awful lot wrong with the presentation.

After the constant drive from Anderson to move away from telling anything resembling a good old zombie survival story there's a lot commend in director Makoto Kamiya's decision to focus on a small group of survivors versus a plane load of t-virus traditional zombies, at least for the first half of the film anyway. The action also comes thick and fast as snarling, blood thirsty, ambling undead ankle biters demonstrate how easily they can replicate given a good food source. There's a bit too much deliberate and obvious visual exposition to teach us how zombies work (head shots, biting, they're not human, alive or nice); I mean c'mon it's 2008, but at least they do stick to the rules. As said with the second half and the introduction of the g-virus RE does what RE does and goes a bit manga and implausibly excessive. It's just even with buildings exploding, rockets being fired and people being batted about like paper balls it was just hard to get too excited about the whole thing, though I think I know why.

Watching someone else play a video game is generally quite a dull experience, especially when the danger that they might actually do something wrong or die has also been removed. Add to this a story that's safe, derivative and really feels like it's dragging the whole thing out to come in longer, and you end up with a film that's wholly flat; competent yes, but incredibly dull. As said, and reading the many positive reviews this has got, I can see an appeal, to some, of a fairly safe resident evil fan film that doesn't deviate too far from what is required; yet to the rest of us and as a film in its own right, zzzzzzzzz, 4/10.

Steven@WTD.

High School of the Dead (Gakuen Mokushiroku Haisukūru obu za Deddo) - review

2010 (Japan)

2011 Manga Entertainment Blu-ray R(B/2)

Contains mild spoilers.

Now I like a good animated film, I like a good Japanese video game and I love zombies so this should be right up my street, and for the most part it really, really is. It's Z-day 1 and trouble has reached the gates of a typical Japanese High School. Troubled teen Takashi Komuro (voiced in English by Leraldo Anzaldua) acutely aware of the trouble everyone is in, pulls his ex girlfriend Rei Miyamoto (Jessica Boone) out of class moments before all hell breaks and the school is plunged into the full on zombie spiral of carnage and death. As they attempt to escape the school they team up with three other mismatched high school kids and the enormously breasted school doctor and embark on a highly stylish, highly personal zombie survival story across Tokyo, full of pace, action and teenage angst.

Now you may be wondering why I made reference to the doctors breast size, and I wouldn't normally think twice to but with HOTD it's important. I'd been forewarned of something called fan service and I think we need to discuss it up front. For those that don't know (I didn't), fan service is how it sounds; servicing the fan by intentionally adding superfluous shots and sequences specifically included for the target audience. Sounds OK so far, but, and here it is, common within anime and manga, and specifically in HOTD, this audience I can only assume are hormone bursting, immature heterosexual fifteen year old boys and the fan service we soon discover, consists of constant gratuitous and totally unnecessary crotch shots, bouncy boob cams, inappropriate outfits that leave little to the imagination, and constant innuendo and suggestion. I'll be honest I wasn't really prepared and though it is a little amusing I generally found it all a bit weird and off putting. It also does also seem to steadily get worse, starting with occasional unusual camera angles before building up to two particularly over the top episodes that don't even try to hide their full on pervie intentions. It does temper down again somewhat after these though, and by the end of the series I'd even say, strangely, I'd kind of got used to it all. Whilst I wouldn't argue it actually benefits the show in-any-way-what-so-ever, and can certainly distract from what's going on, I can't argue that it doesn't add something to the unique adolescent Japanese charm and feel on show.

Each episode is short, compact and individually themed, and book-ended with its own quirky upbeat custom pop song performed by Maon Kurosaki with a short scene after that sets things up for the following episode. It's all very well paced and you'll find yourself saying just one more all the way through to the final twelfth episode before you know it. Director Tetsuro Araki, who I understand has quite the accomplished anime pedigree really does have an eye for the artistic with some beautiful poignant sequences interspersing the action and tension and a great score not afraid to mix and match. It really is great animation with lively action sequences, slower more aesthetic panning shots and stop-start all used with impeccable precision.

It also has a very post modern feel too. Set in modern day the students are well versed with zombie mythology and the popular zombie zeitgeist. They know all the right language with which to frame the apocalypse and understand the threat they face as the grown-up all around get themselves killed either through inaction or denial. They 'get' they're dead and not diseased, they know not to get bitten and there's no dilly dallying when it comes to calling them by the z word. It's refreshing and youthful and I wish more films would copy the approach

The gang are very much the  'breakfast club' too; before the end of the world brought them together they were all living different lives in different cliques. HOTD, like many good zombie survival stories understands the need to throw a disparate group together, ramp up the heat and see what stews; add the adolescent coming of age sub theme and one thing I will say the character development and interaction is never dull.

The zombies themselves are the modern Romero stylised sort shambling and dumb though when they need to be and nasty and intimidating. Taking it a little further though and adding a bit to the mix we learn that whilst they have an insatiable hunger for flesh and acute hearing, they're blind with dead senses so if you're really quiet you can sneak past and even brush up against them. In truth they don't really totally stick to this all the way through but it's interesting to note.

Constantly entertaining, stylish and fun HOTD is fresh and enthralling from its first episode to its last. Thematically rich and not afraid to play with some quite dark post apocalyptic topics it's almost as good as it gets for the survival style zombie story. The characters are quirky, their relationships surprisingly deep at times and the English dub is bright, strong and well edited to make it all more relevant for the Western audience.

The story and action is relentless, it's surprisingly gory and violent when it needs to be, and it's full of imagination and intelligence. Maybe if I was going through puberty again it would have been the perfect zombie survival; but unfortunately that was a long time ago, so I'll have to knock a couple off, 8/10.

Unfortunately since buying this Blu-ray Manga have released a new version complete with an additional episode called OVA Drifters of the Dead which is highly acclaimed. It's only on DVD and isn't dubbed but it would be nice to have seen it all. At some point I'll try and upgrade and post my thoughts. WTD

Steven@WTD.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie (Papá, soy una zombi) - review

2011 (Spain)

2012 Lionsgate HomeEnt DVD R(2) - watched on Netflix

Contains mild spoilers.

When my ever supportive eight year old told me she'd found a zombie film on Netflix and could we watch it together I was at first a little alarmed. I needn't have been though, as the film in question turned out to be the totally family friendly animated Daddy I'm a Zombie or in it's original Spanish Papá, soy una zombi. Never one to disappoint my family I could hardly say no so we dived in.

Daddy, I'm a zombie, is a low budget animated Burton want-to-be, fantastical adventure story about a little girl dealing with the trials and tribulations that come along with adolescence. 13 year old Dixie (voiced in English by Kimberely Wharton) lives above a mortuary with her divorced Dad. She wears black clothes, listens to death metal, has no friends and a crush on an unobtainable boy, and is full of teenage angst and depression that of course no one else could possibly understand. This film might have the word zombie in the title but let's be clear, this is a teen-flick and wasn't made for 39 year old grey haired gits like yours truly.

Dixie reluctantly agrees to go to the local fair with her Dad and is tricked by some mean girls from school to go into the ghost/fun house where she sees her supposed best friend making out (I believe is the term) said  boy of her dreams. Running away distraught and in tears she screams out that she wishes she was dead and it unfortunately comes true.

She wakes up in a cemetery face to face with Isis (Ratana) an Egyptian mummy who explains she's in the land of the dead and she, like her is now a zombie. This land of the dead is a place outside space and time where souls of the departed rise up as sentient undead if they left unfinished business when they died. There is however, conveniently, a way out. Isis explains that there's a magical item known as the Azoth that can open a portal back to the land of the living and in the forest there lives a crazy old man called Vitriol who knows just how to do it.

Luckily for Dixie, she is the chosen one and has the Azoth on her. Unluckily, outside the protection of the cemetery the land is ruled by evil zombie queen Nebulosa who has captured all the other zombies, sucked out their souls and is preparing them as an undead army to invade the living world once she gets her grubby little mitts on the Azoth. So begins a journey of friendship to save the world, or something like that with scrapes, adventure, fallings out and redemption.

Like I said, this is fantasy and adventure and it doesn't matter that mummies are zombies or that that Nebulosa's goon hit men are minotaurs. It's a children's story and takes full advantage of the fact that things don't have to strictly speaking make much sense. It's free and bit silly but all in a good way. Isis tells Dixie that zombie food is bugs and worms and Dixie moans she's a decaying corpse and looks terrible but there's no real rotting flesh, blood or gore. It's all been tamed and all what we expect in a children's family cartoon, and it's ok. Still, it's not all unicorns and roses and there are moments where it lets itself get a little dark and tense, and some of the themes and ideas are definitely aimed at the slightly older children. It also manages a few winks and nods to it's horror heritage and I swear I saw the silhouette of a brain at one point which is nice.

Now I'm not an animation expert but even I can tell it's no Disney or Pixar, more that computery cheap animation you see on Saturday morning television. All the colours and lines are sharp and saturated and panning is always done from a fixed point. It's all a bit cheap and garish but it's adequate for what it is and my kids didn't seem to mind. The English voices are great and story for all over the place fantastical nature is actually pretty cohesive and it paces along quite nicely. I'm not sure why it's called what it is though, as at no point is Dixie a zombie in the real world nor does she ever come out, so to speak to her dad.

Daddy, I'm a Zombie is a coming of age flick taking advantage of the current mainstream obsession with all things Z. It's a well intentioned morality tale about learning to be more positive, trusting and nice to others and as said while clearly not targeted in my direction I still enjoyed it for what it was. It's bright, quirky, a little deviant (always a good thing in my book) with some imaginative ideas and a reasonably strong story. I'm really not sure how to score this one though. I'd probably give it something like a 5 and when asked my daughter gave it a 10, so we'll meet somewhere in the middle, 7/10.

Steven@WTD.

Paranorman - review

2012 (USA)

2012 Universal Pictures (Cinema)

Contains spoilers.

Paranorman is a film about fear and prejudice; of how a young boy overcomes the abuse and challenges of being  different to solve an ancient curse, bring peace to the dead and save the townsfolk from themselves. Whilst marketed as a children's film it's also definitely not one for the really young with some darker and more complex themes than you'd get in your average Disney affair.

Young Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) has a gift. He can see and speak to the dead; those souls that are trapped in spiritual form because they have unfinished business on earth. Because of this gift Norman is misunderstood, feared and ridiculed by his school mates, his neighbours and even his father and feels isolated and alone. He mistrusts and shuns genuine attempts at connecting with him, even the ever persistent chubby school chum Neil Downe (Tucker Albrizzi), and buries himself at home in his love of horror films and paraphernalia. 

300 years ago the good townsfolk of Blithe Hollow executed an evil witch. Dragged from her mother and accused of all manner of evil, as she was found guilty and condemned to death she cast a curse on the judge, the witnesses and the town. The legend of the witch still dominates the town and it commemorates, celebrates and relishes in its dark heritage. Or that's what people think. Unbeknown to the town the curse and the witch are still very much present and are only held in stead by an annual ritual performed by the witches descendent, and Norman's Uncle Mr Prenderghast (John Goodman) who also shares the family gift of being able to talk to the deceased.

Things are coming to a head though. Uncle Prenderghast fears he is close to his death and feels it's time to pass on the ritual but dies on the eve of its anniversary leaving young Norman to work it out and save the town all on his own. After a slow and tense build up Norman suddenly finds himself in the middle of a maelstrom; trying to contain the evil spirit of the witch, flee from the judge and seven witnesses who have all burst from the grave and keep all this from his family and the town. With hell about to break out though he is joined by his older cheerleading sister Courtney, his school friend Neil and Neil's older jock brother who all came out to look for him, and school bully Alvin who tagged along just to beat him up. Between them they have to come to terms with the fact that there may actually be something to Norman's gift and also put aside their differences to make sense of what is happening, find the witches grave and perform the ritual before the curse consumes the town.

Evil witches, curses, ghosts, bullying, mobs with pitchforks, zombies that lose limbs and are shot and a prevalent mood of mistrust and fear; Paranorman is a dark film full of dark themes but it's never overly oppressive or sinister. It's behaves like a classic children's fairy tale, painting scenes that aren't really what they seem and reducing the horror before it becomes too much. Like Scooby Doo on Zombie Island after introducing the traditional shambling scary looking zombies and after having an albeit slightly comical but still tense and dramatic chase we discover the zombies aren't actually the big bad baddies the group perceived them as being. They're actually full of regret and sorrow for what they did 300 years ago to the young  Agatha Prenderghast (Jodelle Micah Ferland). They aren't out to massacre the town, they are cursed to eternal un-life until the small girl they condemned to death can find peace and they actually want to help Norman achieve this. The zombies really being good, Aggie like Norman and his uncle all being misunderstood, feared and rejected is all part of the over-arching narrative of acting on assumption and fearing that which one doesn't understand.

Eventually everything comes full circle and the citizens of Blithe Hollow see things how they really are; that with pitch forks and flaming torches ready to burn down the civic hall that they're more the monsters than the zombies, that Norman might actually be the hero with a special gift and the they should learn to tolerate and accept that which they don't understand. It's an old tale done before but here it's presented in a refreshingly original and vibrant way. With an emphasis on engaging dialogue the story of retains all the charm of an animated children's movie, with grittier social commentary and depth for the adult viewer to chew on.

As for the zombies; in so much as they're dead and reanimated that's really as far as it goes. They're not bad, they're not after brains or flesh and they don't really pose a real threat to anyone. They're reanimated because they're cursed and this curse only goes so far as to ensure their spirit can't move on and protects them from being destroyed by being pulled apart, or run over or even being shot, etc. They're still presented to the traditional zombie spec though, with ripped clothes, groans and dry dead skin where I did notice a slight blue tinge; a nod to Romero perhaps? There's also a nod to the comical and absurd side of the genre with many lighter b-movie moments occurring with and to the zombies. All are brilliantly executed and never forced, and they provide necessary and expected relief in a film aimed for the younger audience.

Produced by the Laika, the same stop-motion animated film team that created Coraline, the film shares many of the same intelligent and deviant qualities as well meticulous attention to detail, style and artistry and special mention must go to a final twenty minutes, which are as captivating, dramatic and visually exciting as anything I've probably ever seen, animated or not. Paranorman is sharp and witty with great pacing with a faultless narrative and strong interesting characters. There's never any dumbing down and the film stays true to its themes and visions throughout. Directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler have produced a beautiful and poignant experience and a children's film with real depth; I can't recommend it enough, 9/10.

Steven@WTD.

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island - review

1998 (USA)

2003 Warner Home Video DVD R(2) 

Contains spoilers.

Yep, you read right, Scooby Doo. I originally purchased this not just because I did say I was going to watch and review every zombie film ever, but I fancied something a bit lighter, whimsical and something I could watch with the kiddies. Obviously I got all the light and whimsy I was expecting, but what I wasn't expecting was a genuinely coherent suspenseful and interesting narrative that could easily hold its own with any other film I'd watched, with shocks, real horror and a deep symbolic subtext about the journey from child to adulthood.

The gang are back together, literally. Years after dissolving Mystery Inc. and going their own way, Fred now the producer on 'Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake' decides to bring the group back together for a trip to Louisiana to help Daphne and her goal to find and film a real mystery. Daphne has become disillusioned with how every supernatural mystery always turns out to be just illusion and trickery and some guy in a mask motivated by greed. Velma a mystery book store owner, Scooby and Shaggy recently sacked from an Airport security position for eating all the confiscated food, all jump at the chance to get back onboard The Mystery Machine and they head back out for adventure.

Predictably things return swiftly to how they were before. Villains are unmasked, mysteries are solved and it's as if nothing has really changed; there are certainly no real supernatural shenanigans for Daphne to report on. Until that is, a chance encounter with Lena, an alluring  young lady in New Orleans, who believes she has a solution to their problem and invites them to Moonscar Island and the home of her employer, Simone Lenoir, where she says, they can witness the antics of an allegedly real ghost, the long dead pirate Morgan Moonscar.

So following the Scooby Doo formula we know and love we can hazard a guess the plot will go something like this: they'll arrive at the island, witness all manner of supernatural tricks, Velma will discover a rational explanation for the unexplained and Fred a motive for one of the supporting cast and Scooby and Shaggy after a series of calamitous and comical scrapes will bring the Pirate Captain crashing to his knees for Daphne to whip off his mask and save the day. Right? You couldn't be more wrong...

After a tour of the house, some supernatural warnings telling them to leave and a series of eventful encounters Scooby has with the multitude of cats on the island,  Scooby and Shaggy, separated from the rest of the gang find themselves running for their lives through the New Orleans bayou from Morgan Moonscar and his resurrected zombie pirate gang. Out to rescue them Daphne and Fred manage to snag themselves a zombie and in a then in a sudden whoosh and a whirl everything gets turned around on its head.

It's a profound moment of realisation not just for children but for adults. Try as he might Fred just can't get the zombies mask off. He's the janitor or the old headmaster or the gardener? No, he's a monster and he's real; monsters are real. Everything up to this point had been playful, safe and could be explained and suddenly you realise the gang have grown up and there isn't always going to be a happy ending. They're no longer those meddling kids, they're adults with jobs, dreams, futures and uncertainty and danger. There's a symbolism of the transition from child to adulthood, learning that Father Christmas isn't real and that monsters are, and it's a pivotal moment for the franchise. Nothing can ever quite be the same again; childhood innocence is lost in a second.

Now the illusion is shattered though, anything goes and the writers can play with a narrative that is no longer constrained, where things don't have to be structured in such a way to be explained at the end and the film can embrace a new found freedom. So before saving the day, as well as zombies we're thrown voodoo dolls, ancient cat gods, vampirism, lycanthropy and even a flirt with the idea of romance and relationships. Our gang has gone and got itself all grown up.

An interesting feature of the zombies is actually they're the good guys. They're authentic, shambling, scary looking, definitely dead and would fit neatly into any zombie film and it's a clever narrative twist for a film targeting to children to turn things on their head and make what appear to be the bad guys actually good. Not to break with tradition too much though, later we discover the main villains were under the gangs noses the whole time, just this time there's no masks coming off.

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is still a Scooby Doo film. It's an animated box of fun with jokes, gaffs and hilarious set pieces and a joy to watch for both children and adults. It's also easily the best Scooby Doo film I've seen with a narrative and story streets ahead the recent live action films. Whilst the animation is traditional Warner and basic, it's full of warmth and wit, and proves you don't always need an animation team in the 100s and access to super computers to put together a top drawer cartoon.

A great Scooby Doo film and a great Zombie film; Scooby Doo on Zombie Island is dramatic exciting adventure full of all the jokes and scrapes you'd want; but it's more, it's a coherent intelligent narrative and a profound reflective memorable experience, 8/10.

Steven@WTD.