We Bought a Zoo (2011)

[Edgy MD]

Grieving widower (Matt Damon) tries to turn things around for his emotionally crippled kids and himself by buying a new home with a deed that includes a rider that the homeowner take over stewardship of a private zoo on the property.

He and his 14-year-old son each meet a pretty girl, his seven-year-old daughter gets to play with peacocks and peahens, and healing ensues, but not very easily. Cameron Crowe takes a Disney subject with a strangely frank title (so over-the-top in it's frankness that it probably helped kill the film at the box office), and ends up producing something that's not quite a Crowe film, but not quite a Disney thingie. And that's cool, but while it includes the virtues of each, it's kind of held down by the shortcomings of each. (This isn't actually a Disney film, but the spirit was never far away.)

Generally not without heart and commitment and stuff. Crowe reportedly got Damon to play the lead by visiting him on the set of True Grit and leaving him a copy of Local Hero along with the script (and Peter Riegert sneaks into a scene). So yeah, it's got some of the Local Hero flava, with a successful but detached guy throwing himself into a new and risky scenario that leads to his rebirth and reconnection. Could have been written better. It's no Local Hero, but it's no Elizabethtown either.

[Ceetar]

watched it the other day. Enjoyed it even though I didn't really expect to. was surprisingly broad on all the different area of grief. Which I guess is the point, Everyone in the film is grieving a different sort of loss and it's only the perfect combination of scenarios that get them all on the path towards being better.

I think Jason Bourne and Black Widow would make a good couple though.

[Edgy MD]

I was torn between three stars and thee and a half. I went for the latter because it had genial good will and because it wasn't Secretariat. But I have half a mind to dock it back down to three for it's shameless and continued references to Target stores as some sort of cornerstone of American life.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: I was torn between three stars and thee and a half. I went for the latter because it had genial good will and because it wasn't Secretariat. But I have half a mind to dock it back down to three for it's shameless and continued references to Target stores as some sort of cornerstone of American life.

I forgot about that. yeah, that annoyed me too. I figured 3 was 'average, eh, an okay movie' and 3.5 crossed into the "I'd recommend it" which I would, so I went there.

[Vic Sage]

i wanted to see it cuz i'm a huge Crowe fan, but he hasn't been good in a while, and i wasn't able to talk my kids into this one, but i'll catch it on cable eventually.

For more on Crowe, see my ALMOST FAMOUS review (which includes comments on his earlier films)
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9063&p=221459#p221459

[nymr83]

Watched it on demand, it was ok. Worth a watch when it comes to free cable at least.

[Vic Sage]

finally caught up with it and it was worth it.

especially beautiful was the moment near the very end where Damon, finally coming to terms with his wife's death and able to think and speak about her, brings his kids to the coffee shop where they met and literally conjures her up for his children. Rarely has the power of storytelling been so movingly depicted. If only there were more such moments of magical realism, or even just simple emotional transcendence, in the film, I'd have given it more than 3***, but alas the movie was mostly Disney sweet and Hollywood obvious, and i wanted to kill the son with a blunt instrument.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah. Disney sweet and Hollywood obvious. You almost resent it when you realize how good it might have been.

[Vic Sage]

Resent it? No, i appreciate it when i realize how bad it might have been.

[metirish]

caught this last night, liked it more than I thought I would, kind of one of those ones I want to turn off but won't .......just to add to the rest, great freaking music all the way through .

[Vic Sage]

Crowe's use of music in his films is consistently good --