In a holiday season with lots of sex and violence, I knew there would have to be a warm-hearted movie aimed at the entire family. "We Bought a Zoo," as one immediately realizes from the title, fills that slot as it opens today. In truth, it's so warm and so filled with heart that it is not recommended as a follow-up to a big Christmas dinner. It's hokey and predictable, too, but it is entertaining, especially if there's a child in the next seat, most especially if there's another on the other side.
Based on a true episode in the life of Benjamin Mee, an English writer, it makes the easy transition to the U.S., where the animals speak in the same accents. Matt Damon portrays Mee, a writer trying to cope with the recent death of his wife and the fact that he has become a single father to 14-year-old Dylan (Colin Ford) and seven-year-old Rosie. That's the perfect age for a child actress, and Maggie Elizabeth Jones steals every scene she's in as if she were Margaret O'Brien as Tootie in "Meet Me in St. Louis."
I wouldn't say little Maggie is impressive, but it wasn't until the credits were rolling that I realized Scarlett Johansson was in the movie, too.
Johansson is managing the zoo, which Mee buys after a single visit. He then decides he'll make it his life's work, though he probably has a book deal in the works, a fact that neither director Cameron Crowe nor Aline Brosh McKenna, with whom he wrote the screenplay, shares with the audience. He has sufficient funds to pay back wages to the loyal staff that has been taking care of things while not being paid.
Damon is solid, and Crowe's direction keeps the story rolling nicely. The movie is about 15 minutes too long, but what the heck, the animals don't get overtime.
We Bought a Zoo opens today at several theaters.
— Joe