A Mom's Review of World War Z

I was against this movie as soon as I heard the word "zombie."

I haven't like horror movies since I was a teenager and I spent the night at my friends's house and endured Chuckie.

Bleh.

Hubby knows that I won't do horror and so he didn't ask me to watch World War Z with him.

But after he watched it he, he said he thought that maybe we should all watch it as a family because he felt it was more like Indiana Jones than a horror movie.

So I said "Okay.  If you think it's okay for the kids."

I put my phone in the other room and I focused on this movie so I wouldn't be lost and guess what?  That was a good thing because the beginning of the movie was very important.  It let you know who the main character, Gerry ( played by Brad Pitt) was.

And I was really pleasantly surprised to find out that Gerry was a family man!  And he stayed a family man through the entire movie ( complete with wedding ring)!

His family was an ordinary family.  His wife was a "regular" person with her hair in a ponytail and his girls wanted a puppy and one of the girls had asthma and he had to talk her through an asthma attack.  This was a family that I could relate to . . .

As the movie progressed Gerry continued to do the right thing;  he became a reluctant hero who used his BRAIN, not his brawn, to fight the virus that caused ordinary people to become zombies.

It was a movie that showed my kids that the best way to live is to by loving others and laying our lives down for them.

Gerry was willing to die for his wife and kids and the movie showed that clearly.  But he was also willing to live for them.  When it came down to the wire, he showed courage.

Yay, Brad Pitt.  Good job.  And thanks for not swearing all over the place or being naked.  I don't want my kids seeing you naked.  So thank you.

Also, they made a point of making a woman a hero.  They took a young Israeli soldier and showed her risking her life to save others.

All in all, our family enjoyed it though I will admit that I left and got laundry to fold during some of the more suspenseful moments and my younger child sat by her dad and buried her face in his shoulder whenever it got too scary.  So if you are way sensitive to scary, don't watch it . . .but if you like a good thriller, you'll enjoy this one.

A quick recap of why I liked it:

1.  Family Man
2.  Brains, not Brawn
3.  Positive Portrayal of Women ( Wife was loving, realistic person;  same with the soldier.  Neither was portrayed as a sex object.)
4.  It was all about self-sacrifice for the ones we love
5.  Also, I didn't say this clearly before BUT, the enemy was not the PEOPLE who became the zombies, but the virus that made them sick.  So being a scientist was COOL in this movie.

~ Jennifer