The most pleasantly surprising of the Disney adolescent musical franchises (such as "High School Musical" and "Descendants"), "Zombies" transcended its implausible cuddly-zombie concept to enhance its themes of intolerance and acceptance with world-class melodies. Given this, it's not really enjoyable to say that "Zombies 3" is conceptually dead on arrival and revives the idea an unnecessary number of times.
The tale reassembles the regular suspects in a community that has expanded from humans and zombies coexisting to include werewolves and now, in a particularly poor flourish, aliens. It does this by skipping Disney Channel and going straight to Disney+. Undoubtedly, the UFO that arrives above Seabrook High carries teenagers who are ready for their yearbook photos and whose alien ancestry is indicated by their blue hair and a few spots on their face, but not the type of ones that most teenagers worry about.
A blink-and-you'll-miss-it environmental message is added to the mix by the fact that the aliens have come to Earth in search of a new home after their world was devastated by ecological calamity. But in order to discover it, they have to uncover Seabrook's most priceless treasure, which gives them a reason to hang out, get to know the group, and perform some gravity-defying cheering, providing a glimpse of what the 17th season of "Glee" may have been like.
In terms of the original cast, zombie Zed (Milo Manheim) is eager to enroll at Mountain College as the first monster, partly to avoid having to break up with his fiancée Addison (Meg Donnelly). After all, long-distance relationships may be difficult even without the alien invasion to give them a new meaning.
"Zombies" seemed upbeat and progressive by Disney Channel standards in 2018, long before the recent conservative criticisms of the studio, and the movie keeps up that trend as one of the aliens (Terry Hu) portrays a non-binary character. In spite of this, the way practically everything is put together only feels louder and clunkier as if packing more people into the mediocre song and dance performances will make up for their lack of creativity.
The two songs that stand out, unsurprisingly, are Donnelly's new song "I'm Finally Me," which portrays the underlying sensations of being different and coming to terms with who you really are, and the beautiful ballad "Someday," which was featured in the first film.
As it continues to revive the musical through these teen forms, which are based on a vibrant fusion of music, magic, and broad humor, Disney has shown particularly skilled at producing young stars. But these goods also have expiry dates, which are sometimes difficult to predict in advance but brutally obvious in hindsight.
Look no farther than "Zombies 3" for a case study; while it may not require last rites, it should at the very least be given some time to rest before anybody considers bringing the franchise back to life.
On July 15, "Zombies 3" will debut on Disney+.
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