The new Cameron Crowe written and directed movie We Bought A Zoo is new this week. Based somewhat on a true story, starring Matt Damon, and Scarlett Johansson.
This is the story of a young widower Benjamin (Damon), and his struggling young family. After his wife's death, he strikes out and takes his family in a new direction. He buys an 18 acre piece of property that is actually a local working zoo. He has no zoo experience of course, but there are people that do there. Can he take his family on this new adventure, and keep the zoo afloat? That's We Bought A Zoo.
This for many will be a feel good holiday movie for most of the family to enjoy. But to get down to brass tacks, this is not a very good movie, and that's a shame. A dirty, rotten shame. It's not the story though. I think there is enough here for a nice little movie. But that's part of the trouble. This is an attempt to make this a big movie, and it doesn't work. Checking in at 2 hours, this would have been far sweeter at 90 minutes. And have a different feel to it.
The writing is horrible. For some reason they try to weave in a love story between Benjamin and Kelly (Johansson) who is the head zookeeper. But it never seems to go anywhere at all. It just strings you along with no payoff. Also they blend in a "love story" that involves two 14 year-olds that is really stupid and off point. This subplot, and eventual outcome is embarrassingly bad. And of course, they have to make the cardinal sin of many movies like this. They make Benjamin's 7 year old daughter, Rosie "a wise old soul." And 7 year old Rosie has the insight on life, and the vocabulary of a 30 year old. And as cute as she is, it's just incredibly dumb, and insulting. The best kids on TV and movies talk like kids. And they wrote her badly.
It's also a story you don't know and that's generally a good thing. But here you know the whole time, from start to finish how this will end. It just takes way too long to get there. I would have loved to see this movie reworked, shortened down, and rewritten a bit to allow it to go in a different direction. And for heaven sake cut out some of the fat, and make these characters real.
With an eye on the entire project though, this will find a following and will do well over the holidays as some families will enjoy this. There is nothing in this movie that is objectionable, and pretty much anyone can see it. The timing is right for its release as people have the time to go. And you're gonna need it. 2 hours and 5 minutes of dragging you along.
We Bought A Zoo. It's no one on camera fault. It's terrible writing. This is a huge opportunity missed here. Could have been so much more, by being so much less.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
This is a soulful family film centered on a widowed father (Matt Damon) and his 2 kids, who buy a small and troubled local zoo in an attempt to make a fresh start. Scarlett Johannson stars as head zookeeper, with a humorous supporting cast in roles as zoo employees. They all must pull together to get the zoo ready for a new grand opening, and face many challenges. Along the way, Damon reconnects with his difficult teenage son, and comes to terms with his grief.
Post a Comment