WE BOUGHT A ZOO – The Review

This movie year we film fans are getting to see new works from directors who might not be referred to as prolific. They’re not giving us a new movie every year like Woody Allen ( who’s had a great 2011 with MIDNIGHT IN PARIS ). One is Terence Malick, who gave us THE TREE OF LIFE a few months ago. Another is Cameron Crowe. It’s been six years since Mr. Crowe took us on a cinema trip to ELIZABETHTOWN. Well, he’s back at the multiplex, but like Martin Scorsese with HUGO, he’s tackling what might be pegged as a family film, the based-on-a-true-story WE BOUGHT A ZOO.

The film’s focus is hotshot newspaper reporter Benjamin Mee ( Matt Damon ), whose life is at a turning point. Recently widowed, he’s doing his best to raise his two children on his own. Rosie’s ( Mary Elizabeth Jones )  a sweet little sprite still missing Mommy, but the main challenge is Ben’s acting-out teenage son Dylan ( Colin Ford ). After Dylan’s suspension from school, and big cutbacks at the paper ( he will not be a blogger! ), Ben thinks the family needs a new change of venue. A new home with a big yard away from the city should be just the ticket. Ben finds the perfect new house, with a small catch: it’s attached to a small, run-down zoo. Utilizing his family inheritance ( much to the chagrin of his big brother played by Thomas Haden Church ), Ben plunges into this new home and job. Dylan rebels against this change, despite the cute zoo staffer Lilly ( Elle Fanning ), who takes a shine to him. Ben must rally the zoo keepers, led by Kelly ( Scarlett Johansson ), and try to spruce up the place to pass a big inspection and re-open the place tot he public. He finds that the job of zoo owner and single dad may be much more than he can handle.

Contrary to what you may have gathered from the film’s marketing people, this is not a sequel to ZOOKEEPER. Crowe gives this family flick a harder edge than expected. The animals here are not cute, wise-cracking, slapsticky, CGI creatures we’ve seen in other comedies. There’s a real danger to them, and with one zoo veteran a sense of mortality. The humans are more complex also. Damon continues to impress this time as a very believable family man, who’s trying to hold tha family together while dealing with his own great loss. He also works very well with his fellow actors. Damon’s not upstaged by the cuteness onslaught of Ms. Jones ( Memories of Drew Barrymore as Gertie in E.T. ) and his scenes dealing with Ford really crackle. Filmgoers may be surprised by the real, raw drama in many of their altercations. Church is charming and very believable ( they look like they could be related ) as Damon’s cynical, funny big bro. The film’s main problem may be the forced whimsy from the wacky, eccentric zoo staff. They seem to be taking too much time away from the family dynamics. Johansson does what she can with the underwritten Kelly who predictably goes from tough to tender toward Ben. Damon has had some great chemistry with several actresses in his recent films ( Emily Blount in THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU and Bryce Dallas Howard in HEREAFTER ), but no real sparks are generated between these two. Like HUGO and WAR HORSE, WE BOUGHT A ZOO brings a tougher edge to the family movie genre, but coming from the very gifted Crowe it seems to be a better cast cable flick. It’s a well made film with a few entertaining moments that never really mesh together. But , let’s hope Crowe doesn’t wait some many years before bring us ( hopefully ) a much better film.

Overall Rating: Three Out of Five Stars