We Bought a Zoo | Film review

 

It’s every kid’s dream to move into a zoo, right? Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo follows Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) as he uproots his family—a painfully adorable seven-year-old (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) and an angst-ridden 14-year-old (Colin Fold)—to revive one that’s seen better days. The Mee family’s relocation is adventurous, but also desperate: After the death of his wife and his son’s expulsion from school, Benjamin hopes that this fresh start will bring his family back together.

While writer-director Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) offers up a couple of love stories to entrain the romantics, the most compelling and revealing relationship is between Benjamin and himself. His grief manifests itself in his suddenly tumultuous relationship with his son, and also in the newfound responsibility he has to an ailing tiger. In the film’s most honest moment, an argument between parent and teen erupts into an emotional storm. We then return to familiar, Hollywood-ordained calm.

Zoo has its humorous moments but it also packs some anxiety-producing sequences (Hundreds of snakes on the lawn! A grizzly bear loose in a residential area!) that are quickly glossed over, a clear sign of the film’s identity crisis. Despite these stock tropes of horror films and comedies, Zoo doesn’t aspire to be either, settling instead for tepid drama. Plot points that should heighten the movie’s stakes instead feel micromanaged by the dictates of studio execs and focus groups. A nifty, pretty bow wraps each moment up. Unsurprisingly, the story of the real Benjamin Mee, as documented in his memoir of the same name, is a far more complex tale.

The film’s setting provides plenty of adorable monkeys, fluffy peacock chicks and ferocious lions, which might be enough to lure you and your family out to the cinema during the holidays. Before you go, consider its running time—126 minutes—and PG rating, probably earned by a gratuitous scene at the end, where our adorable 7-year-old, completely out of character, tells the mean Federal inspector, “Hey, mister: Everybody says you’re a dick.” Factor this all in and you may want to leave the little kids at home—and you’re better off taking older ones to see War Horse or Hugo. No holiday flick here, Zoo’s best saved for some cold, rainy, spring weekend and on demand.