So I finally got round to watching this movie, I was super interested in this movie the moment I saw the trailer because it looked like it was going to be a nod to classic zombie movies while also having it's own fun tact on the genre. The animation also looked interesting (kinda reminded me of Wallace and Gromit but computer animated rather then stop motion) and I was super excited when I finally had some time between work and commissions to see this movie!
.....Buuut the story and pacing kind of sucked
Further drabble below but to summarise these drawings without too many spoilers, these drawings are an alternate take of the movies ending and what the movie did with Dan, where he becomes the begrudging parent to an orphaned cub the zoo gift him as an enclosure buddy. They eventually become friends
Spoilers below as I rant about the movie: the movies pacing and story telling was its downfall
I wanted to like this movie so SO badly! And I feel like the directors knew what they wanted to accomplish, but failed in the presentation. I did not like the side characters in this movie at all, they were introduced so quickly that we never had a proper introduction to who was who, I had to look up their names after the movie was over.
On a related note, the side characters - minus Xavier, I'll talk about him in a minute - were all just...jerks for a lack of better words. It felt more like they were tolerating each other rather than genuinely caring for the others safety. Felix I ACTUALLY hated, Ash felt like he had potential but again just came off as a jerk, Frida felt like she was just there to butt heads with Felix and Poot did not need to be in the movie at all. Xavier felt like the only one that really had a personality outside of being mean, but his whole gimmick of being "the cinema enthusiast" got real annoying and stopped being funny after the first two times they used this as a joke.
Xavier's entire bit was that he'd say things like "this is the part where the group of suvivors get lulled into a false sense of security before it kicks off into the second act!" and then said second act kicks off. Which again, this could have been funny if they used this joke once, but they used it through out the entire film and it just made me feel bored cuz Xavier was essentially doing the opposite of "show don't tell"
Poot as I said didn't need to be in this movie at all. Poot is there as the cute appeal and is meant to be the innocent, cute one that Dan and Gracie end up protecting. BUT Dan and Gracie's friendship is so poorly explored and developed through thanks to it's pacing that Dan and Gracie didn't even feel like friends either, even by the end of the movie! The parts where the writers tried to give these two emotional moments felt hallow and undeserved because we got little to no growth between these two
There's this one scene in the film where Gracie saves Dan and Poot from one of the zombie turned animals and Dan tells her good job and they have this moment afterwards where they kinda laugh and you think they might be starting to become friends, but then right after that when Gracie saves Dan again after he gets turned into a zombie himself, Dan calls her stupid for not running away and saving him, and Gracie calls him a coward for not wanting to save the zoo even though the movie made it clear Dan never wanted to stay at the zoo to begin with, he wanted out from the beginning. Also, Dan never forms any bonds with the side characters (neither does Gracie), so Gracie calling him a "coward" for not wanting to save the others also feels undeserved because the movie never showed Dan forming a connection with anyone
Then after the whole cliche Dan leaves the zoo after him and Gracie fight but returns cuz the power of friendship, he STILL ends up leaving the zoo anyway at the end of the movie
So yeah. Great animation style, interesting take on a zombie movie I don't think has been explored (aside from the game Zoochosis), but very poor job on the writing and pacing. Sooo~ ALTERNATE AU!!
These drawings show a what if AU where Dan actually forms a somewhat wary friendship with Gracie through out the movie and, since Gracie did save his life, decides to give the zoo a shot. Dan tries, but he just doesn't mesh well with the whole living in a cage lifestyle. He's not great at making friends nor has a great interest in doing so and can only really tolerate Gracie (in small doses, I like to hc they butt heads but in a playful half hearted way).
The zoo, seeing as their mountain lion isn't doing so great, decide to give him a - literal - little buddy to help keep him company, that being an orphaned mountain lion cub named Leah! Hooray!!
Dan is surprised and initially unimpressed at the sudden responsibilities of guardianship thrown upon him by the keepers. What was the point of this? How was a cub going to help? The zoo already has ONE mountain lion, why would they need another? But now they've gone and dumped a cub in his enclosure....a tiny, squeaky nuisance. They chew on his tail, mew non stop, and once they're comfortable, are set on talking his ear off....and yet Dan is compelled by some blasted instinct to keep them from harm, or go hungry, or get in trouble, or cry too long.
Hmm. Maybe the situation isn't entirely awful, maybe the little brat is amusing in their own endearing way, but Dan of course would never breath a word of this out loud. No Gracie he doesn't know what you're talking about, he's not soft. He's letting the cub sleep besides him because he's naturally warm, no other reason, if word of this gets out Gracie he's going to eat you-
This au is mainly inspired by one line Dan says in the movie after meeting Poot. After Gracie says she and Dan need to protect Poot Dan replies with "Is she a mountain lion cub? Or a wolf cub?" which I think implies that if Dan WERE to come across a lone mountain lion cub, a part of him wouldn't be opposed to protecting it
