Zombieland

I missed this whole thing with the pilot and the voting and the this and the that, and now the whole project is scrapped. But that will not stop me from reviewing it! Nevar!

OK. So, I enjoyed this. The first minutes are absolutely perfect. Sort of clever. Then it goes a little downhill, not a steep hill though.

The main problem I think people had with this is that these actors are playing the characters from the movie. That was a mistake. I actually didn't realize it until the at the end, haha. Now, I'm not sure if it would be better to have new characters, but it probably would.

The violence is great. There's swearing, which always elevates things. The actors are alright. Yeah it's kind of clichéd here and there, but I think this would have made an entertaining show had it been green-lit. But we will never know now, will we!? Probably not.

The guy playing Woody Harrelsons character is sort of funny. Not my favorite cup of tea, but he did alright. The rest ain't much to say about, really.

As a TV-short this is enjoyable.'

I feel sort of sorry for the actors involved, they were probably real happy to land this part, and then the whole thing just falls apart. Hang in there, folks!

I loved the movie Zombieland. I've seen it a handful of times, and it cemented my man-crush on Jesse Eisenberg. It's a funny movie that balances the absurd, the funny, and packs a nice moral without ever even approaching heavy-handed.

When I heard there was a TV show with no Eisenberg or Harrelson or Stone or Breslin, all stocked with actors I didn't know or didn't like, I wasn't so happy. I said it was going to be awful and that I wouldn't watch it.

The result is better than I expected, but not what the movie offered, and frankly, if you go into it expecting the movie again, you'll be disappointed.

The movie had some fun dialogue and a present but subtle point. The TV show is much better at slap-stick gags. It showed a commitment to the dialogue and the theme and the character development, but it was honestly boring. That part is not written nearly as well as the movie, and I strongly suspect that it won't get better over time.

The slapstick gags are funny though. While predictable, there were several times I laughed out loud, which is something I seldom do for slap-stick comedy, especially if I go into it promising myself to dislike it. I had some really nice chuckles, which I seldom get from TV shows.

While I understand that this was never going to be the original part II, there was one major change I seriously disliked. In the original, Tallahassee was insane, neurotic, but the smartest one of the whole bunch in his own twisted way. Columbus was the bumbling clueless one, and Tallahassee was the one who protected him from zombies and girls. In the TV show, Tallahassee has lost about 50 IQ points. He went from an insane but bright zombie killing machine to a guy who to quote the show "asks for price checks at a 99 cent store." They did a decent job at capturing everyone else's character, but they practically killed Tallahassee.

The original Zombieland starred four actors with a combined four Oscar nominations. The TV show stars four people that I had barely heard of. The believably is a little stretched, Wichita no longer looks like Emma Stone, and Eisenberg's narration is no longer as fast or clear as it used to be. The storyline isn't as well written or as well acted as it was before. But it's funny. It's a TV show, so you were never going to get Eisenberg back. You were never going to get Hollywood writers working on a draft for years at a time.

But it has some things right. In addition to some nice cheap laughs, it has the theme right. At the end of it all when the zombies get to us, what are you going to miss? It won't be TV, it won't be IMDb. It'll be people. As much as Wichita and the others don't want to hear it, the show keeps the family motif right, and Tallahassee still demonstrates that if life is worth living, it's worth living now. To quote the show, "If God sent you back to Earth five minutes, and those five minutes was right now, what would you do with it?" It's an important question that too many people never ask. They get up, go to a job they hate, eat food they dislike, come back to a family they resent, and spend their whole lives looking forward to the weekend, which always disappoints. And the show, like the movie, promises that there's more, and it's all around you right now. The TV show is probably heavier handed than this review while the movie was very beautifully subtle, but it's there. The TV show might be very different in form and delivery, but when it comes down to the point, it's the same in substance.

So the rating breakdown goes like this for people: A handful of zombie apocalypse nuts giving this a 10, a bunch of frustrated people who wanted more of the movie giving it a 4, and a few people in the middle who like it for what it is, not what it isn't.

This series seems to have a lot of potential in my opinion, I think the majority is being too rough on the series. After seeing the pilot I personally wanted more. I thought the acting was fair - not good, nor bad. And the story HAS a lot of potential. I read from other reviews that they despise the idea of the same characters but different actors, this may have some truth in it. Nonetheless the characters are characters and it's just a matter of 'not wanting it to change' that makes the shift so unbearable to people. I want to see more, because the show is more about the laugh than the zombies, which I enjoy. And because I love the humor in the movies (AND THIS SERIES). So personally I really do hope this show will be aired soon so I can get some more awesome zombiekilling on my retinal!

//Cloyde

First off, I enjoyed the pilot, let me get that out of the way.

there is only one big thing that gets in the way, the characters are just different actors playing the people from the movie.

I am unfamiliar with the folks in the cast, but they have a huge hurdle to attempt to mimic 3 Oscar nominated actors and Emma Stone. so why bother?

Zombieland is big enough that the series could have focused on another group of survivors and be just as fun. it could even be argued that the "Rules of Zombieland" are no secret and have been passed around a bit.

So that is what I do not like.

I really enjoyed the Actor Playing Tallahase, he was not trying to impersonate Woody Harrelson (although the Twinkie gag at the beginning was a cool tip of the hat) and that is the way it should be. I loved the material between him and the off screen "Detroit" . . . if Amazon does pick this up, I will stop watching it if this character is not continued.

The language was a tad too rude, but I will not complain much about that. there was no chemistry between our Boy/Girl lovers and frankly that bothered me a bit as it did not even come off as Awkward attraction, but I liked the actress in the role, Again, should be playing a character that is not Emma Stone.

I say lets see some more, but change the series so that is not the same characters (Keep the cast though, just rename them).

I just want to point out that I watched this pilot episode after reading some gray reviews expecting a bad time... and boy! I got one. First: empathy is missing among the characters. The group seems like a bag of cats... and man, in a post-apocalyptic world, food is not scarce! Second: children and zombies don't match! Isn't The Walking Dead a good example of that? Children usually nullifies the character taking care of them... and the last thing we expect to see are parents on their knees explaining the children why Mr. Zombie is eating that man's guts. Third: when using a movie concept, please consider to change the names, especially if the actors/actresses are not the same. Last, but not the least: humor. It is funny but the laugh you may get will not be fulfilling or satisfying to break-even the time invested. Not seeing it going any further than this pilot episode. It got a 5/10 for the effort.