Plants vs. Zombies (2023 film)

Plants vs. Zombies is a 2023 American 3D computer-animated action-comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group. Based on Popcap Games' tower defense video game of the same name, the film centers on a 32-year old gardener who struggles to survive an attack from zombies with the help of mutated plants. The film stars Michael Keaton, Peter Dinklage, Drake Bell, Selena Gomez, Tony Hale and Rob Riggle, and was directed by Karey Kirkpatrick.

The film was released to theaters on July 30, 2023 by Warner Bros. Pictures, and received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics.

Synopsis
Jack Wilson is a 32-year old gardener who regularly tends to his backyard garden and hangs out with his slightly unhinged yet caring neighbor Crazy Dave. His life is soon put at stake though, when a massive army of zombies, led by their intellectual mad scientist leader Dr. Zomboss, invades the town in an attempt to break into the houses of citizens to eat their brains, and Jack is one of them!

Realizing that the town is in danger of becoming an apocalyptic land of zombies, he gathers the help of four mutated plants; Peashooter, Sunflower, Wall-nut and Chomper, who in turn gather an arsenal of other mutated plants to take down the zombie army once and for all.

Cast

 * Michael Keaton as Jack Wilson, a 32-year old gardener who soon becomes determined to save his town from brain-eating zombies. He is good friends with his neighbor Crazy Dave. He eventually gathers the assistance of four mutated anthropomorphic plants to help him survive the zombie invasion.
 * Peter Dinklage as Crazy Dave, a crazy middle-aged man who wears a saucepan for a helmet. He gets along very well with his neighbor, Jack Wilson, and frequently gives him advice on life. He eventually helps him when the zombies arrive.
 * Drake Bell as Peashooter, a green Bellsprout-like plant who has the ability to shoot peas the size of tennis balls. He is the leader of the other plants.
 * Selena Gomez as Sunflower, an anthropomorphic sunflower who has the ability to temporarily blind (not kill) zombies by shooting balls of sunlight at them. She is merely used to get sun in the video game.
 * Laura Shigihara as Sunflower's singing voice, which is heard in "There's a Zombie on Your Lawn" during the end credits.
 * Tony Hale as Wall-nut, an anthropomorphic walnut who serves as the shield for the other plants, able to endure several bites from zombies.
 * Rob Riggle as Chomper, a pink Pirahna Plant-like plant who has a huge appetite for zombies.
 * Riggle also voices a majority of the zombies, like Basic Zombies, Flag Zombies, Conehead Zombies, etc.
 * Alexander Armstrong as Dr. Zomboss, a mad scientist zombie who has a really huge brain and is the leader of the zombies. He is the true main antagonist of the film.
 * Fred Tatasciore as Football Zombies, Dancing Zombies, Zombonis
 * Ryan Reynolds as Gargantuar

Release
The film was released on July 30, 2023.

Marketing
A teaser trailer was uploaded to Warner Bros. Pictures' YouTube channel on February 23, 2023. Four individual trailers featuring Peashooter, Sunflower, Wall-nut and Chomper were released between March 12 to 21. The final trailer was released on April 27, 2023.

Home media
The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-Ray 3D on October 12, 2023.

Critical response
Critical response aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 63% based on 230 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Plants vs. Zombies is a fun-filled action movie which pokes fun at the zombie apocalypse and truly stays faithful to it's source material. Packed with beautiful computer animation, funny and charming characters and a great choice of voice actors, kids and grown-ups will enjoy it!". Metacritic gives the film scored a 65/100.