A Book/Movie Review

I went through a huge Pride and Prejudice kick in high school, up into college, even.  I have seen about every movie adaptation out there, and a friend and I even cast our friends as different characters--coincidentally, the character I was did end up marrying the character Andy was, though no one else has necessarily fit into their roles quite as well as we did.  

So, when Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out, I gave it a funny look, but of course I had to try it out.  

Overall, it's funny, particularly if you can allow it to be.  In comparing it to the original, there are elements that work together rather well and some points that simply try too hard.  For example, in the original, Mrs. Bennet is fixated on getting her five daughters married.  She suggests that the eldest, Jane, ride on horseback to meet with some of the family of a potential suitor because it looks like rain and they would have to invite her to stay out of propriety's sake, meaning that her daughter would ultimately spend more time with the potential suitor.  In the zombie version, same idea, but it is pointed out that it looks like rain which makes it easier for zombies to spring out of the earth.  Keeps the same spirit; adds in black humor.  

In other places, there are issues with the women being so touchy about their honor that they're willing to kill people on a whim, but they also somehow still care about propriety?  It doesn't quite work.  Persons are thought well-of for their class and wealth, but also now in one's skills as a warrior.  It's about survival.  However, I don't feel that hundreds of years of sexism is going to suddenly go away after fifty of a zombie apocalypse--there would still be a lot of people of that era who would frown upon women doing much fighting.  Knowing some basics on how to survive?  Sure.  But as part of the main force?  No.  Here, the Bennet sisters could still be a part of some progressive ideas, but at least aware that not everyone thinks as highly of these skills as everyone else.  

I also have beef with Lady Catherine.  In the original, she has wealth and status, but is otherwise kind of useless, claiming that if she had ever learned to play music, she would be the best and ridiculous things like that.  However, in the zombie version, she's someone respected for how proficient she is at killing zombies, if still full of herself.  She also does not understand the inverse ninja rule (the more ninjas there are, the less effective they are), which I'm not sure is ignorance of the author or the character.  I was frustrated that she was well-thought of for earned reasons, counter to what she was in the original.  Part of the original novel's charm was that people might be worth more than what money or status have to show for it.  She was supposed to be another foil toward that effect, but instead she became someone to actually be respected.  How the characters pick and choose in the zombie version what elements of society they care about is inconsistent.  

In some elements, I could look past on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and appreciate the intended humor and the ideas about the world, and at other times, I had to shake my head.  Overall, it was fun but not something I was inclined to re-read.  

Enter, now, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the movie.  

Like the book I figured this was going to be worth a laugh if nothing else.  However, I found the movie in this case to be more successful than the book.  If nothing else, this is a different sort of zombie movie.  Zombie's add tension and conflict, but the main focus is still on the Bennet sisters and their interactions.  After a jarring opening, contrasting people attempting to hold on to civility and those who are almost cruel in their pragmatism, we are treated to a brief pop-up book history of the zombie menace during the the credits, sealing how this universe operates in a tidy, amusing manner.  

The sisters are skilled--some of my favorite sequences were conversations held while Elizabeth is talking while fighting (particularly in one Husford cottage, for those familiar with the story)--but it's more assumed in society and in how they prepare for a ball.  They still have to overcome societal prejudices, keeping with that theme from the original that a person's character is far more important.  Mrs. Bennet is still ridiculous, but more so because she's interested in things that are considered frivolous, now that the undead are knocking at their door.  Again, we have people trying to keep some parts of society as it was, and others that know survival is what is most important; as another example, women are not part of the militia nor is it implied they are really part of the front line anywhere.  Some rules still exist, but no one objects when the Bennet sisters appear there.

Lady Catherine is a certified bad-ass, but this time, I'm okay with it.  The world has established enough credibility in itself, that I believe in an alternate timeline such as this, it could be a path that she chose and actually was good at.  She's still full of herself, but it is earned and she has a coldly logical demeanor, meaning that her pride is not flouted as wholly as it could have been, so much that she might become idle.  The movie did not try to make her seem like the original and fail; the movie allowed her to just be a different character.

Our villain figure has an entirely different story that drives the plot in the movie.  This is the part where everything deviates the most.  I have some mixed feelings here that will require at least a second viewing the resolve.  The zombie book version gives this character a harsh justice which is validating, but less authentic; he is punished because we want to see him punished.  In the original and in the movie, he gets off comparatively lighter, because the world is more complex than that, much as we want to see it otherwise.  

To those familiar with the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice (the five hour long one with Colin Firth), yes, Mr. Darcy does jump into a lake wearing a white shirt.  They even shot it in a very similar way for that part.  Again, this movie knows what it is.  

Oh, and Matt Smith a la Doctor Who fame is Mr. Collins, for those who need a star factor.  Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) and Lena Hedley (Cersei Lannister) are also in the game.  Lily James who was Cinderella in the new live action version plays our lead.  

There are a few other components that I would like to talk about, but I have been trying VERY hard not to have any real spoilers in this post.  In any case, is adding zombies into Pride and Prejudice a stupid idea?  Maybe.  But the results are amusing, and I would even suggest the movie over the book in this case.  For those not familiar with the original story, it's still a fun zombie movie.