Zombies 2

Rachel Wagner started her review by admitting, “I enjoyed the first Zombies as a cute little allegory for tweens and teens with some catchy songs and dancing.” Both Disney Channel and Netflix have done a great job in the last decade of creating material that attracts children from ages 9-14. This is important because those ages don’t get enough attention with a lot of content made for younger and older groups but not much for those in between. What is surprisingly nice about “Zombies” is it tries to do more than entertain by starting a topic about tolerance and acceptance. Wagner said, “It’s still the bubblegum fun of the other musical series like High School Musical and Descendants, but it adds a layer that hopefully will start discussions amongst families and lead to kinder treatment of misfits in middle and high schools around the country.”

Now “Zombies 2,” released in 2020, comes along, and we get to see how Zed (Milo Manheim) and Addison (Meg Donnelly) are down and how the town of Seabrook is doing not only accepting zombies but a new group of outsiders: werewolves.

It is a little sad that the creators of “Zombies 2” have basically retold the first movie again but with a new minority to focus on. Wagner said, “On the other hand, tolerance is a lesson that seems to require continual re-learning by our civilization, so I suppose it makes sense to keep teaching our teens about it.”

Wagner continued, “I also did not think that the choreography and dance sequences were as strong as in the first film.” However, the leads are very well cast, and Manheim and Donnelly work great together and good singing talent. The songs are very catchy especially the climactic Flesh and Bone, which is the highlight of the whole film.

Wagner admitted, “I hope for Zombies 3 that they push themselves and their audience a little harder and don’t just introduce another third group of outcasts. Let’s move on from learning to not exclude people to the next step of doing good and making the world a better place. Young people need to learn those skills as much if not more than simply stopping hate from happening. Let’s get our zombies/werewolves/teens storming Congress in the next film! It could be great!”

Even with its flaws, “Zombies 2” does what it needs to do. It has a positive message with a fascinating cast and energetic musical performances. Wagner ended her review by admitted, “I enjoyed it, and more importantly I think its target demographic will really enjoy it, so job well done Disney Channel!”

I’m not going to be too hard on this film, even though it repeats the same story as the first movie. However, I can’t say the film takes itself seriously, which it doesn’t. These two movies are just mindless entertainment, which to their credit, they do it fine. I think they knew it, went along with it, and enjoyed it. However, I didn’t enjoy this film. Still, it’s hard to get mad just because this wasn’t that good. Like a lot of sequels, the first one is better, and the sequel is not as enjoyable. Check it out if you want and liked the first one, but just be forewarned, you won’t like it as much.

Tomorrow I will be looking at a horrible film adaptation in “Disney Month 2021.”