We don’t know if it was intentional or a coincidence, but with “Zombies in the Zoo – Crazy After Midnight”, the German title of the French-Belgian-Canadian children’s film “Night Of The Zoopocalypse”, they hit the jackpot. On the one hand, the content is outlined much more clearly than in the original word construction. This immediately increases curiosity, because there have hardly been any zombies in connection with a zoo.
On the other hand, older generations should also sit up and take notice, because George A. Romero’s classic “Dawn Of The Dead” (1978) was known in this country for many years under the unofficial title “Zombies in the Department Store”. And in fact, fans of the Romero masterpiece as well as families should enjoy this animated film by Rodrigo Perez-Castro and Ricardo Curtis. Although not a drop of blood is shed, the well-tricked and entertaining horror comedy, which is mostly dipped in bright neon colors, is relatively “violent”.
Even Puma Dan is no longer safe in his zoo after a zombie meteorite hits!
The young wolf Gracie (voice in the original: Gabbi Kosmidis) has so far led a sheltered, uneventful life with her pack in the Colepepper Zoo. But then one night a meteorite falls from the sky and lands in the petting zoo. A previously super-cute rabbit mutates into a bloodthirsty beast – and disaster ensues!
Soon the entire zoo is infected with an alien virus. Gracie must team up with puma Dan (David Harbour), ostrich Ash (Scott Thompson) and proboscis monkey Felix (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) to get out of the locked zoo. That’s just not easy, because animals behave no differently than humans in stressful situations: people disagree and mistrust each other. However, the animal animation version is much more humorous…
Buddy comedy in the zombie zoo
The focus is clearly on little Gracie and giant Dan, who couldn’t be more opposite. She is young, optimistic and family-oriented, he is older, cynical and a loner. In the best buddy movie style, this leads to friction, but after a while it also leads to more emotional moments. The dynamic between the two is amusing, entertaining and quite special – after all, Dan could just eat Gracie – but unfortunately it remains on the surface because the script sacrifices character development in favor of hectic pace. The characters are not given enough breaks, the film rushes from one suspense or action scene to the next, plagued by a fear of standing still.
Zombies at the Zoo is based on an unpublished adult graphic novel called ZOOMBies by Hellraiser creator Clive Barker, which centers on a child trapped in a zoo during a zombie virus outbreak. Producer Steve Hoban found the material attractive for a film, but wanted to go in a different direction and was given free rein by Barker. It’s a shame the template wasn’t published. While watching it, you get the feeling that the makers couldn’t completely free themselves from Barker’s horror visions, despite the ultimate goal being a children’s film. Especially when it comes to the design of the zombie-fied animals, there isn’t exactly any restraint. It is doubtful whether every child can easily put up with the varied and anything but cute designed monsters with the pointed teeth and the bright green eyes.
Just totally sweet! Now the zombie rabbit threatens to infect the entire zoo…
At the same time, it is precisely this imaginative and clever design that speaks for the film: Not only do the monsters look great, details such as the textures of the fur make the characters appear incredibly three-dimensional. For an animated film that only cost twelve million dollars, that’s impressive. Budget constraints such as the sparse backgrounds are cleverly concealed through the use of light and colors. In general, the colors: “Zombies in the Zoo” with its sometimes highly stylized neon aesthetic is simply an eye-catcher and predestined for the big screen.
Conclusion: Whether this is a 100% children’s film remains to be seen. But what you can definitely attest to is that despite the mediocre script, “Zombies in the Zoo” is a slightly different animated film that you shouldn’t miss, even as an adult, simply because of its great looks.