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| Some people say they live in a zoo, but very few can literally back that claim up. |
Buying any piece of real estate typically wears a person down for quite some time, dealing with the endless red tape and practically selling your name and your life away in order to committing to stay there for however many years down the line. Normally, it isn’t something that done on a whim, especially when it’s for something more than you bargained for. That is, unless you’re a single father of two who decides to start anew and buy a zoo in the country. Matt Damon happens to be that single father of two in We Bought a Zoo.
We Bought a Zoo is based on a true story, helmed by acclaimed director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous), of a family from England, who bought a dilapidated zoo and subsequently reopened the facility to the public. Crowe’s adaptation Americanizes the story, transplanting the narrative across the ocean to the bright California countryside.
We Bought a Zoo is based on a true story, helmed by acclaimed director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous), of a family from England, who bought a dilapidated zoo and subsequently reopened the facility to the public. Crowe’s adaptation Americanizes the story, transplanting the narrative across the ocean to the bright California countryside.
It’s been nearly a decade since director Crowe has had any sort of success. His 2005 film, Elizabethtown, failed to resonate with audiences both critically and financially, but that doesn’t discourage Crowe from going ahead and reconnecting once more with We Bought a Zoo. We Bought a Zoo might not be a return to pure form for Crowe, but it emerges as overstuffed holiday card of two hours of solid family bonding.
What the film lack is an understanding that there is too much fat stretching out this runtime. For the majority of the movie, Zoo is constrained to dozens of acres of land only mixing up the setting between cages and offices and the main house where Damon and his family live. Being stuck in one location with breathing in an ounce of kinetic tension here and there does get stale. And that goes for any movie, not just We Bought a Zoo.
Crowe establishes that this is a film about new beginnings and developing a tight-knit group amongst the family, the employees and the forty-odd species of animals. That element is Zoo’s strongest suit, particularly with the father-son tension and the initial distrust between Damon and the staff. Damon’s character is a bit over his head in taking on such an endeavor, quickly transitioning from city life to tackling the biggest responsibility of his life.
Those initial scenes do move a bit quickly and it does seem quite unrealistic that Damon’s character could have purchased such a large piece of real estate so quickly, when in reality the actual family took a couple of years to the same. It’s understandable the Crowe wanted to get the ball rolling on the film and not waste countless minutes on documenting the purchasing, but once again everything has to unfold within a two hour cinematic window.
Those initial scenes do move a bit quickly and it does seem quite unrealistic that Damon’s character could have purchased such a large piece of real estate so quickly, when in reality the actual family took a couple of years to the same. It’s understandable the Crowe wanted to get the ball rolling on the film and not waste countless minutes on documenting the purchasing, but once again everything has to unfold within a two hour cinematic window.
We Bought a Zoo holds itself together with a handful of good performances mixed with a few miscasts. First off, Matt Damon is a wonderful fit in the father and entrepreneur role and is the backbone of the entire film. The two young actors portraying his children round out the family dynamic; they both come off a bit cliché at times, serving characterizations for the film’s plot. Unfortunately Scarlet Johansson didn’t feel like the right actress to be the zookeeper. Johansson is a hit or miss in most cases. Recently, she’s found roles that have suited her in The Prestige and Iron Man 2, but this just isn’t one of them.
And as crucial as the actors are to the plot, there is also another element to We Bought a Zoo, the animals. Animal movies are a tricky to come off as authentic, because unlike regular people, the audience feels more the well-being of the animals. The less it feels like the audience is having their emotions intentionally worked in cheap tactics, the more realistic it feels. Crowe tends to go for those certain tactics, forcing Damon to buy the zoo after being told the place will shut down and the animals possibly put down as a result. There are only a few of the forty-plus animals audiences really get to know, but the circumstances feel like it’s emotionally manipulating the audiences at times.
And as crucial as the actors are to the plot, there is also another element to We Bought a Zoo, the animals. Animal movies are a tricky to come off as authentic, because unlike regular people, the audience feels more the well-being of the animals. The less it feels like the audience is having their emotions intentionally worked in cheap tactics, the more realistic it feels. Crowe tends to go for those certain tactics, forcing Damon to buy the zoo after being told the place will shut down and the animals possibly put down as a result. There are only a few of the forty-plus animals audiences really get to know, but the circumstances feel like it’s emotionally manipulating the audiences at times.
At its heart, there is a warm story being constructed in the confines of We Bought a Zoo, but with a hefty runtime, some less than genuine circumstances and the constant reminder throughout the film that We Bought a Zoo, Crowe finds himself at a transition to get himself back on the right directorial path.
GRADE: B- (7/10)This review is also available on Blu-Ray.com
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