Zombies 3 Movie Review: Zombies, Disney’s teen-musical franchise (see “High School Musical”, and “Descendants”), overcame its awkward cuddly-zombie premise and became the most surprisingly appealing.
Its themes of acceptance and bigotry were augmented by best-in-class music, and it was a great example of Disney’s ability to bring out the best in teen-musical. It’s not a pleasure to report that “Zombies 3”, although it was creatively dead upon arrival, has been revived at least once too many times.
Is Zombie 3 On Netflix?
The story skips Disney Channel to go straight to Disney+. It reunites the usual suspects in a town where humans and zombies have coexisted to include werewolves, and now, with a weak flourish, aliens. The UFO that appears above Seabrook High is a yearbook-ready UFO. It features teens with blue hair and a few dots of skin. This is not the type of face dots most teenagers worry about.
Adding a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it environmental message to the package, the aliens have come to Earth seeking a new home, with ecological disaster having destroyed their world. They must find Seabrook’s most valuable artifact to do so. This gives them an excuse for hanging around and getting to know the gang. It also allows them to engage in gravity-defying cheerleading to give a glimpse of what “Glee 17” might look like.
The original players are zombie Zed (Milo Manheim), who is keen to be the first monster admitted to Mountain College. This is mainly to avoid any problems with Addison (Meg Donnelly). Long-distance relationships can be difficult, even before the alien invasion.
In 2018, “Zombies” was a progressive and energetic film by Disney Channel standards. The film continues in that vein, with Terry Hu, one of the aliens, representing a non-binary character. As constructed, almost everything feels louder and more clunkier. It’s as if they are trying to compensate for their lack of mediocrity by having more people in the song-and dance numbers.
Among the exceptions are a reprised version of “Someday” and a new song by Donnelly called “I’m Finally Me.” These songs convey the underlying feelings of being different as well as coming to terms with who you are.
Disney is a master at creating young stars. It does this by keeping the musical alive through these teen formats. They are built around a colorful mix music, magic, and broad comedy. These commodities have expiration dates, which are difficult to predict in advance but can be painfully obvious with hindsight.
You can’t go wrong with “Zombies 3” as a case study. While it might not be necessary to read its final rites, you should at least schedule a long rest before you start thinking about bringing back the franchise.
Read Also:
