Anna and the Apocalypse Review

Anna and the Apocalypse is a rather dark, hilarious musical. It follows a group of teenagers that are stuck in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. This group is largely driven by the lead Anna (Ella Hunt) as she aims to find her father. The others in the group are also looking for their loved ones and have a collective goal of reaching their high school. That's the general narrative, at least in terms of what they're trying to achieve. It really does feel like Shaun of the Dead, but in a musical format in terms of setting and comedic attitude.

I felt it was a riot in terms of providing laughs and going against typical tropes that one might expect within a film. There's a wealth of characters here that are well balanced and it's interesting to see that get dwindled as they try to make their way towards survival. At the core, this is a musical and definitely a comedy. They mix the two well and its magical seeing the characters dance and sing along while the world falls apart around them. I thought the songs were well presented, fit into what was going on and brought a strange cheery competition to the dark world the group was stuck in.

There were some creative dances and they really went all out with them. The acting was excellent and the cast was dynamic. They all had character development throughout and it added an extra level of shock to when the zombies would get people in their clutches. I felt the pacing was generally fine here, though they do have a fair bit of a stretch where it gets serious and away from the musical aspects.

I didn't feel any musical elements were too far stretched out as the genre tends to do with each being concise and driving the plot forward. They presented a simple, yet developed environment for the apocalypse and had some creative setups. There was purpose in the madness and it touched upon the key points of this situation while still being a jolly time.

The Conclusion

Anna and the Apocalypse is a dark, exciting and funny musical that delivers something different. It really does feel like Shaun of the Dead in a musical format and that's great. The humor; the songs, they come together perfectly providing a great viewing. This will definitely be one of my yearly holiday films to watch and I look forward to it.

They do different things with the narrative and there are surprises along the way. It's a refreshing take on zombies and they mixed just enough of that Christmas spirit into it. There was good acting, the cast worked well and there was a nice chemistry as they faced this zombie menace. It also felt quite grounded with musical segments that contributed directly to the story that was being told here.

Anna and the Apocalypse Review at Theater with Standard Viewing
Screening Provided by VVS Films

Rating Overall: 9.0