I don't know who expected what from the continuation of George Romero's Great Trilogy. A social drama starring Robert De Niro and Richard Gere, or a romantic comedy with Meg Ryan....
I was expecting meat - focused, quality and compelling. And, well, I got a lot of it. Thank you, Romero, and don't listen to anyone! The movie made a profit, which means no one will take your fans away from you.
About the 'thinking' dead. Just a small and, admittedly, not quite successful development of the idea of smart corpses from the previous series. But it's part of the intended satire running through all parts of the series. And you can't call it unnecessary.
And people love movies not for the lack of minuses (they are everywhere), but for their positive sides. Where else have you seen such quality Gore?