Running Time: 123 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.
I had the unique opportunity to see the new movie with Matt Damon, called "We Bought a Zoo" about two weeks ago with my partner... I had my initial reservations, naturally, given that I thought this movie would be a very sappy rendition of a family that bought a zoo, which seems like the appropriate assumption given the title...
To my delight, I found this film quite appealing, only due to the fact that there were warm cuddly animals, and Scarlett Johansson ;) Matt Damon plays journalist, Benjamin Mee, who basically quits his job and moves out to the country to take ownership of Dartmoor Wildlife Park. His daughter Rosie has no issues with the move, in fact she relishes it. His son Dylan, is the usual teenage stereotype rebel; talented, smart and resents his school, his family, the move, the animals, and probably the rest of the known universe...
This film has the clichés that tend to result from the usual biopic with a family involvement... The hard-working optimistic father; the token rebellious older child; the token irrepressibly cute younger child, who usually has one line that cracks the audience up in laughter; the hard-working but socially-inept love interest that everyone knows will be honing in on the protagonist at the very end of the movie, picked out by the audience from the moment they see her, the person who seems a little out of place because they're either a bit crazy, a bit drunk, or both; the predictable happy ending...
These and the saccharin sweet performances of Maggie Elizabeth Jones and Elle Fanning (who plays Lily, Dylan's eventual love interest), kinda taint the storyline a bit... From what I've read about the back story for this movie (seeing it is based off real life events) there are a number of discrepancies that changed the movie for a more suitable audience in the States; stuff like the actual location of the zoo... Rosemoor Wildlife Park was based off the original zoo, Dartmoor Zoological Park, which is actually located in Devon, England. Although the necessary changes that were made to the film for a US audience were approved by Benjamin Mee for the film itself, I can't help but feel that the true story itself has changed considerably as a result.
Media: Cinematic Release.
I had the unique opportunity to see the new movie with Matt Damon, called "We Bought a Zoo" about two weeks ago with my partner... I had my initial reservations, naturally, given that I thought this movie would be a very sappy rendition of a family that bought a zoo, which seems like the appropriate assumption given the title...
To my delight, I found this film quite appealing, only due to the fact that there were warm cuddly animals, and Scarlett Johansson ;) Matt Damon plays journalist, Benjamin Mee, who basically quits his job and moves out to the country to take ownership of Dartmoor Wildlife Park. His daughter Rosie has no issues with the move, in fact she relishes it. His son Dylan, is the usual teenage stereotype rebel; talented, smart and resents his school, his family, the move, the animals, and probably the rest of the known universe...
This film has the clichés that tend to result from the usual biopic with a family involvement... The hard-working optimistic father; the token rebellious older child; the token irrepressibly cute younger child, who usually has one line that cracks the audience up in laughter; the hard-working but socially-inept love interest that everyone knows will be honing in on the protagonist at the very end of the movie, picked out by the audience from the moment they see her, the person who seems a little out of place because they're either a bit crazy, a bit drunk, or both; the predictable happy ending...
These and the saccharin sweet performances of Maggie Elizabeth Jones and Elle Fanning (who plays Lily, Dylan's eventual love interest), kinda taint the storyline a bit... From what I've read about the back story for this movie (seeing it is based off real life events) there are a number of discrepancies that changed the movie for a more suitable audience in the States; stuff like the actual location of the zoo... Rosemoor Wildlife Park was based off the original zoo, Dartmoor Zoological Park, which is actually located in Devon, England. Although the necessary changes that were made to the film for a US audience were approved by Benjamin Mee for the film itself, I can't help but feel that the true story itself has changed considerably as a result.
As much as I enjoyed this film, I'll have to give this film 4 stars... Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent movie, but I feel that the number of changes made to the original story make it less "based on a true story" and more "trying to appeal to as many US movie-goers as possible." I guess that's Hollywood for you...
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