Valuable life lessons

We Bought A Zoo (2011)
Certified: U
Duration: 123 minutes
Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Angus MacFadyen, Elle Fanning, Patrick Fugit, John Michael Higgins
KRS release

I usually love Cameron Crowe movies − I had simply fallen in love with his Jerry Maguire, Elizabethtown, Almost Famous and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

As much as I wanted to love We Bought a Zoo, I only ended up liking this film.

This is through no fault of the story, which is based on the true story of Benjamin Mee but – as much as I hate to say it – on Mr Crowe’s direction.

He is never sure what he wants the movie to be and as such the film lacks focus.

Mr Crowe reverts to filling the void with shot after shot of cute, majestic or photogenic animals that will have you liking the movie with no effort at all.

Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is a reporter who is still trying to get over the death of his wife.

His moody adolescent son Dylan (Colin Ford) is having trouble at school while his daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) seems to be too young to feel the impact of this loss.

Benjamin wants a new start for himself and his kids; he thus decides not to just relocate to a new house but chooses to make a home that has a small zoo attached to it.

This means he will also have to get the zoo into shipshape and open it to the public again once summer starts.

Benjamin, however, faces financial problems when the costs of maintaining the zoo start to rise and the close attentions of the state inspector (John Michael Higgins) do not help the situation.

He finds help in head zookeeper Kelly (Scarlett Johansson) while her niece Lily (Elle Fanning) takes a liking to Dylan.

We Bought a Zoo has some earnest performances especially from Matt Damon who is very convincing as Benjamin Mee.

In one scene he connects with a bear and in another with a tiger. In these scenes he was even more convincing than when he was trying to connect with his adolescent son Dylan.

Elle Fanning as the country girl who gets her heart broken has a disarming smile while little Maggie Elizabeth Jones has such a cute face and some snappy one-liners.

Ms Johannson, on the other hand, tries but does not peg her character down well and I never really caught onto what was supposed to be a simmering chemistry between her and Mr Damon.

Patrick Fugit from Almost Famous was given a minor supporting role, relegated to going around with a capuchin monkey on his shoulder which steals the audience’s attention.

Thomas Haden Church as Benjamin’s brother who is alarmed at his brother’s decision to buy a zoo is hilarious.

The film’s drama lies in the clashes between father and son, the romance between Benjamin and Kelly and the success or failure of the zoo.

All of these are nicely tied up by the end of the movie without any unnecessary melodrama but in the last item with an over-the-top coating of sugar.

A plus point in this film, like any other Cameron Crowe movie for that matter, is the soundtrack.

The director who had once been a Rolling Stone journalist has always had the knack of choosing the right song for the right scene.

Made up of mellow tunes from the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Neil Young and others, this is one must-have soundtracks.

Apart from all the unnecessary flashbacks of the family in happier and better times which Mr Crowe could have reduced to at least half, We Bought A Zoo is a likable enough movie that will be a challenge to all cynics out there with its mix of fuzziness, cute kids, even cuter animals and abundance of warm feelings.