'We Bought A Zoo' - Film Review

WE BOUGHT A ZOO

-film review

BY: Apoorva Joshi

After the death of his beloved wife Katherine jolts his life into a helpless, confused and grieving mass of emotions, Benjamin Mee decides to move to a new house. It is a beautiful expanse of rolling hills, fresh air, and wide open spaces – just as he had imagined. Only problem is, as the real estate agent puts it, it is complicated. It’s a zoo.

Based loosely on a non-fiction book authored by the ‘real’ Benjamin Mee, ‘We Bought A Zoo’ is a family drama that runs high on emotion. Directed by Cameron Crowe [of Jerry Maguire fame] and released on Dec. 23, 2011, the film has a runtime of 124 minutes.

An adventure-seeker and journalist, the reel Benjamin Mee is played with amazing panache by Matt Damon. Damon’s dialogues don’t come off as particularly striking but his facial expressions are convincing enough to keep the viewer seated.

In all honesty though, the film seemed to weigh heavier on the “We” than it did on the “..Bought A Zoo” part. Although it seems like the story would be about how hard it was to rebuild an entire zoo, the Rosemoor Wildlife Park, and the animals of the zoo, the film actually leaned towards portraying the human side of the experience. Emotions ran strong throughout whether it was Damon’s character and his two children coping, in their own ways, with the death of Katherine Mee, or Damon’s conversation with head zoo-keeper Kelly Foster [played by Scarlett Johansson] about resorting to euthanasia in order to put their 17-year-old tiger out of his misery.

The two young children also play an important role in shaping the flow of events. Dylan Mee [essayed by Colin Ford] gets expelled from school which sparks his dad’s spontaneous decision to move to a whole new place. The younger of the two children, Rosie Mee [essayed by Maggie Elizabeth Jones], has a warm and loving relationship with her father and is better at coping with the loss of her mother than her older brother is.

Another important family member who serves as a source of support for Benjamin is his brother Duncan Mee, an accountant, played well enough [not spectacular] by Thomas Haden Church. Duncan is basically a good guy and as he claims, he likes the animals but he loves the humans. His initial scepticism about his brother’s decision to buy a zoo eventually transforms into a strong family bond. He is seen helping around on the zoo premises while still offering a word of caution to his brother about the risk involved in this decision, not to mention the fact that this was going to cost a fortune.

And of course, the film has its villain – the evil-enough-to-throw-darts-at-his-picture government official Walter Ferris. John Michael Higgins does a good job playing this character as he measures every nook and corner of the enclosures and critiques any possible aspect of the re-modelling with the sharpest possible eye and an air of arrogance.

Despite the interesting characters and the chemistry they share in the film, the story remains predictable. A journalist, who enjoys the thrills of his job, suddenly quits that job and moves to a sprawling estate. He is not shown worrying about how he plans on schooling his children and feeding them [although the dozen lasagnes in his fridge would take care of that]. It turns into a too good to be true story with happy endings on all fronts, except the tiger who was put to sleep, but that too, ended his misery. Eventually, Rosie Mee’s not-so-heavy dialogue convinces the strict zoo inspection office, Ferris, to approve the zoo’s license. The storyline and screenplay, I think, could have used better editing.

It is admittedly a touching story about how a family moved to an entirely new place that came with its own set of thrills and complications and rose through it together, triumphantly. The real Benjamin Mee and his family run the Dartmoor Zoological Park in Devon, England and yes, their story is inspiring but if you are expecting to see some wonderful animal-human connections and chemistry in this film, you will be disappointed.

I would certainly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to understand why an actor of Matt Damon’s calibre would sign this role after being recognized for Goodwill Hunting and the Bourne series. Damon’s soulful portrayal and Scarlett Johansson’s dedicated zoo-keeper characters are the USP of the film, I would say. Another aspect of the film that I found was splendidly natural – was the background score which fit its scenes perfectly.

Finally, I think Crowe succeeds at churning up a heart-warming family drama but his film crosses the finish line only because of seasoned actors like Damon and Johansson along with some not-so-consistent spurts of excellence from the children, and the other ‘zoo staff’ cast.