Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
11/26/11
A confession
upfront: I’m a big zoo guy. Yes, I know that in a perfect world
we’d live on one of two parallel planets, the other shared by animals who
roamed free in their natural, unspoiled habitats. But since we’ve
outcompeted virtually every living thing on our world, zoos are a useful
way to preserve biodiversity, give a home to wounded critters who wouldn’t
survive in the wild, and let us spend a little time with some really cute
animals. I’m also a big Cameron Crowe guy, and I even loved his big,
heartfelt folly of a box office disaster Elizabethtown, which seemed
to have sent him into exile after its 2005 release. Well, now he’s
back, and back with a bang: We Bought a Zoo shows him pulling
back to more human concerns (as in his iconic blockbuster Jerry Maguire)
after the metaphysical leaps of Etown and Vanilla Sky, telling
a story inspired by Englishman Benjamin Mee’s memoir about his family’s
2006 purchase of Dartmoor Wildlife Park (now knows as Dartmoor Zoological
Park). Zoo is a crowd-pleasing machine, filled with “what
are we gonna do now?” crises and tear-jerking solutions, but most importantly
it’s got the real, beating human heart that’s the single most important
attribute of Crowe’s work (don’t worry, it’s also got some Pearl Jam on
the soundtrack). Grounded by an excellent lead performance from Matt
Damon, it’s filled with a colorful collection of quirky background characters
and oodles of cute animals. It’s the kind of holiday movie the whole
family really should enjoy, unless of course they bristle at the mention
of the word “zoo”.
Benjamin
Mee (Matt Damon) is barely holding it together six months after the death
of his wife (Stephanie Szostak, who appears in flashbacks and speaks a
single fateful line), raising his 7-year-old daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth
Jones) and 13-year-old son Dylan (Colin Ford). Dylan’s a wreck, spending
all his time drawing dark, violent pictures and getting into trouble at
school. Once he’s expelled, the family goes looking for a new home
in a new school district, and Benjamin and Rosie find a house they fall
in love with until the Realtor (J.B. Smoove) informs them there’s a catch.
The house comes with an entire zoo, which the estate of the previous owners
is trying to sell or will have to put the animals down. Desperate
for a change, and against the advice of his brother Duncan (Thomas Hayden
Church), Benjamin makes the purchase, convinced he and the small staff
can get the place up to code in a few months before a big inspection at
the end of June. That staff is led by young Kelly Foster (Scarlett
Johansson), who’s skeptical that Benjamin can make it work. But bit
by bit he learns the ropes as his financial hole gets deeper and deeper.
Kelly’s Niece Lily (Elle Fanning) takes a liking to Dylan, and the family
becomes close with the entire staff. But the inspection looms, Benjamin’s
nearly broke, and there’s the matter of the horribly sick tiger he can’t
bring himself to let go.
By
combining adorable animals and tearjerking family drama, We Bought a
Zoo is following in the footsteps of many a past box office hit.
But what makes it stand out is that Crowe brings a real commitment to the
story. The animals are treated as such, no mugging for the cameras,
no anthropomorphic character traits. The psychology of Benjamin’s
blind leap into zookeeping is solid and emotionally rich, as is his troubled
relationship with Dylan (there’s a scene where the two of them yell out
everything that’s gone unsaid that is utterly superb in its unpredictable
rawness). There are fun background characters like the cynical Duncan,
enclosure designer Peter (Angus Macfayden) and his vow to kill the prickly
inspector (John Michael Higgins), and the goofy Realtor showing the Mees
around on his first day on the job. But they too live just on the
razor’s edge of buffoonery, never falling on the wrong side. The
script Crowe co-wrote with Aline Brosh McKenna fires one dilemma after
another at the zoo project only to resolve each in a way that wrings maximum
tears from the viewer without every feeling lamely manipulative.
Nobody just happens to drop dead because Act 2 needs to turn toward Act
3, and with the sheer filmmaking skill involved We Bought a Zoo doesn’t
surmount its Inspirational Tearjerker genre so much as actualize it.
The
performances are great, led by Damon who does a tremendous job of hanging
by a thread that never breaks, being the best father, man and zookeeper
he can without every really knowing what he’s doing. Johansson really
sells us her connection to the zoo and strikes nice chaste sparks with
Damon. Jones could not be more adorable, walking that fine line of
saying the darndest things while still seeming like a real kid. Ford
is just great as the sullen teen, matching Damon blow for blow in their
big scenes together, and Fanning shows the extent of her range as a characters
as simple and sweet as her Super 8 love interest
was damaged and sad. Church can swish a funny line around his mouth
as well as anyone, while Macfayden is a master of outsized silliness and
both are right in their comic wheelhouse here, as is the persnickety Higgins.
And Szostak is just right in a tiny but pivotal role.
I just
love the way Crowe’s not afraid to let an exchange between characters breathe
or devote time to irrelevant details like a night when Benjamin really
wishes he didn’t have to make a long drive into town for butter but does
it anyway. The final scene feels gloriously pointless until the movie’s
last line puts a perfect period on the entire enterprise. In general,
I really liked the way the script organizes information about Benjamin’s
inner life and how his past guided his choices in the present. Crowe’s
movies are all about how relationships define us and the opportunities
we have to make good choices: they’re filled with life and love and
music and are just generally ALIVE in a way lesser treatments of the same
subject matter never approach. We Bought a Zoo won’t cure
cancer, but it is an awfully nice companion to spend two hours with.
Oh, and the animals are really cute. |
