Zombies 4: El origen de los vampiros

First, the disclaimers:

1) we forget we even have the Disney channel 2) this is not the type of movie we watch at all 3) I would never willingly watch a musical 4) I don't think I've ever watched one of these sing/dance movies in my 64 years in my (granted, old) memory.

5) although the title implied it was from a series, we didn't know anything about that

We were tempted by the description tagline "spooky, playful and endearing" for a Zombie movie.

An animated beginning, we were tempted to turn it off, but then it became "real".

A couple minutes in, I turned to my husband & said.

"Omg, I think she's going to start singing"

About 1/2 in, I said,

"It's like I can't stop watching with some kind of horrified interest."

It's really sweet. We really liked it.

I can see why young people are so into singing the songs and doing the tik tok video dance sketches.

The plot was good, no holes.

Mainly it gives me hope. It's nice to see that kids are learning about the better side of human nature in this uncertain world. That's probably what I liked best about it.

Otherwise, I still don't like musicals. LOL

My husband REALLY liked it though, & scored it exceptionally higher than his usual scores. So it must be pretty good.

The fourth installment of Zombies confirms what many suspected: the franchise is starting to show signs of exhaustion. The story feels repetitive, the resources seem limited, and the increasingly tight budget is evident in every frame. Still, against all odds, it's not a total disaster. There are fun moments, and it maintains the upbeat spirit that made it a hit with younger audiences.

Narratively, the film once again emphasizes unity over hate and prejudice - a metaphor we've already seen throughout the series, but one that still holds value. This time, vampires and so-called daywalkers are caught in conflict, with Zed and Addison trying to bring them together, following the same structure used with zombies, werewolves, and aliens in previous entries.

Visually, it's as colorful and sugary as ever, with cheerful musical numbers that do the job but no longer surprise. The chemistry between the leads still carries much of the story, while the new characters try to bring freshness without fully succeeding.

Perhaps the most redeeming aspect is its message: reinforcing the idea that unity, empathy, and diversity are stronger than division. It may sound naïve, but in today's world it's not such a bad thing for a teen movie to underline something so basic and necessary.

Zombies 4 won't go down in history as great family cinema nor does it extend the saga's magic much further, but for its target audience - especially those who've followed it from the beginning - it still has a certain charm. And if it gets new generations singing, dancing, and talking about accepting differences, maybe it fulfills its purpose better than it seems.

Listen. The movie alone was okay, but as part of the Zombies series its a no from me. The first movie was great, the music was great, the outfits were cool, and the acting was good. And the choreography was top notch. Second one was okay. But when u guys came out with the third one it was obvious yall lost the plot. This one would've been better if it was its own series or movie without the connection to zombies. Specially considering yall got rid of the entire cast from the first and second movies.

Idk how to explain it but the outfits in this one compared to the first movie look so cheap.

And now their maybe mermaids...? Disney just stop. Please. This is one of those things we're yall got a lot of good feedback on Zombies 1, so u made a Zombies 2. That got decent feedback, so u made another one but that one wasn't as good as the first two so now ur tryna save it with this one and now its not even "Zombies" its zombies, vampires, aliens, werewolves, day people, and now something else in the water. Like no.

Wow. What a tragedy. From the cringing rapping. To the entire thing being filmed next to one tacky eiffel tower looking thing Disney actually released this? Like Adults watched this and said - ya, good enough.... content volume over content quality. The makeup bad. The vampire spin bad. The budget must have been low. I dont think this can be saved. The whole 'pass the torch - except everyongh watching this is hoping the torch goes out. Maybe disney will somehow reset but like - there isnt a way based on this movie to use the two new main characters as a base - they were not good. And it doesnt make sense.

It was an okay movie. I liked the storyline with Nova and Victor. It was very reminiscent of Allison and Zed in the first movie, which i'm fairly certain was the writers intent.

Other than that, most of the songs were good, but the writing kinda fell flat. Not much character development outside of the songs, which i didn't like. What was the point of having Willa and Eliza in the film if they're not in it for like 3/4ths of it? They're some of the best characters!

Again, it was an okay movie. It's the type of movie that you watch when you are extremely bored or if you just want to laugh at something cringey.