WE BOUGHT A ZOO !

“WE BOUGHT A ZOO!” (Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson & Thomas Haden Church)

“We bought a zoo!” is shouted a few times during the film, so I thought it apropos to add an exclamation point to the title. I’m a little surprised that this is getting some Oscar buzz, because, despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this adorable little tearjerker, it isn’t what you would call a normal Oscar contender. In many ways, “We Bought A Zoo!” is just as sweet and sappy as the other adorable animal films released in 2011; “Mr. Popper’s Penguins”, “Dolphin Tale” & “The Beaver” . . . Okay, that last one’s a joke.
But “We Bought A Zoo!” has something extra going for it – maybe it’s the fact that it has multiple rascally animals in it as oppose to ‘just’ a dolphin or ‘just’ some penguins. This spreading out of wildlife however, did not work for the deplorable “Zookeeper”. I’ve heard that Matt Damon is being touted as a Best Actor possibility... if he squeezes in, I’ll be surprised – not that he isn’t good – but this is a cute movie – stars of cute movies don’t get Oscar nominations; especially when every actor in the film has to walk in the shadow of tiny Maggie Elizabeth Jones as Rosie. It is Rosie who loves shouting, “We bought a zoo!” and it is Maggie that provides the overload of adorableness to the production.
Matt Damon stars as recent widow Benjamin Mee. Benjamin (don’t call him Ben) has his hands full dealing with his moody teenage son, Dylan (Colin Ford) and precious young daughter Rosie – so you’d think when an attractive single mother keeps offering him pans of lasagne, he’d take the hint and at least invite the cute cougar over to share the meal – but we soon learn that Benjamin is having a very difficult time recovering from his wife’s passing.
When Dylan gets expelled from school for his 4th strike (drawing bizarre art projects that only Charles Manson would appreciate) Benjamin decides to use the money he received from his father’s inheritance to buy a home in the country – where the nearest Target store is 9 miles away! His brother Duncan (Thomas Haden Church) is flabbergasted that he would waste his inheritance money on what turns out to be a run-down zoo. When Duncan asks, “Why buy a zoo?” Benjamin smiles and replies, “Why not?” When Benjamin uses those two words again it should put a lump in your throat... with or without the stale popcorn.
The zoo is run by pretty Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson) assisted by (among others) her teenage niece, Lily (Elle Fanning, who blew me away in “Super 8” but only does an average job here) As Lily attempts to bring a ray of sunshine to grumpy Dylan, Kelly attempts to educate Benjamin on how to bring the zoo up to code so they can re-open and start making money. As Benjamin pours more and more inheritance money into food and repair materials, he begins to question his decision to give in to his irresistible little girl who begged him to buy the zoo!
As Benjamin argues with Dylan one night, he shouts, “We live with a 7 year old girl who still believes in the Easter Bunny!” When Dylan ends the argument by slamming his bedroom door, Benjamin turns to see Rosie standing in her p-j’s and holding her teddy bear... “What ABOUT the Easter Bunny?” she whimpers with a demanding tone. Perfect delivery. I absolutely adored her.
But dealing with his life as a widow isn’t the only tearjerking moment for this film as one of the mainstays is an aging Bengal Tiger named Spar. Kelly keeps telling Benjamin that it is cruel not to ‘do the right thing’ by Spar and release him from his miserable painful life. The fact that Benjamin, obviously reliving his wife’s dying situation thru Spar, is unwilling to make the call causes a big rift between him and Kelly. When Duncan arrives to help out the first advice he offers is ‘get rid of the animals, but keep the girl’.
Scarlett does good work in this – maybe it was the drab hair and her glamorous looks were toned down so I wasn’t just ogling her – but I accepted her as her character; which, I think, is a first. Her dalliance with Sean Penn must have included some acting lessons, eh?
“We Bought A Zoo!” will definitely be in my Top 10 of 2011 and yet I still don’t think it will get any Oscar nods... except for Maggie as best supporting cutie-pie...