We Bought A Zoo (2011)
Cameron Crowe's newest film, We Bought A Zoo, is interesting in that it really has all of the ingredients to make a great film, but falls only slightly short. Crowe has had a very varied output over the years. Great films like Jerry Macquire and Almost Famous are held in stark contrast to films of great mediocraty such as Elizabethtown and Vanilla Sky. I keep returning to Crowe's work because of the great heights of character development he achieves in his best work. We Bought A Zoo has some great characters, but it's runtime limits their development significantly.
The title of the film sums up the plot in a nutshell. Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) has spent his life going from one adventure to the next. After his wife passes away he begins have serious problems coming to terms with it, and seeks to make a complete change in his life to help cope with the loss. Learning to live with his daughter and son without the aide of their mother, Ben decides to begin looking at houses outside of the city. After a quick search, Ben sees how happy his daughter is at a property for sale that happens to be a wildlife park. He decides to move his family there, where they need to rehab the zoo in time to pass an inspection so that it can reopen. The cast is rounded out by Scarlett Johansson, who is the eventual love interest, and the other staff of the zoo, each with their own quirks and personalities.
This is where the film falters where it could have been great. There are too many characters and small subplots that are good but are not expanded enough in the film. Ben's son doesn't seem to want to be at the zoo, but he might just miss his Mom. There is a sick tiger that Ben has a fondness for. One of the staff wants to kill the inspector and has a personal vendetta against him. All of these threads are tied up (slightly) in the 2 hour runtime. As an added bonus, Thomas Haden Church, who plays Ben's brother, turns up to spout motivational quotes. He is a completely underused supporting character in the film with no depth.
At the same time, I can't fault the actors because they all turn in great performances. Damon hits all the right notes as a recently widowed father. Church is a great presence when onscreen. Even Ben's daughter (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) and son (Colin Ford) play their parts well enough. Johansson is the only slightly weak link in the film. Her deadpan delivery never really creates a sense of urgency for the dire circumstances at the zoo.
The biggest enemy of the film is it's runtime. I liked the characters, and I wanted to spend more time with them. I don't know if Crowe trimmed the film to fit the 2 hour time or if the studio made him, but it feels like there was alot of character development left on cutting room floor. As a viewer, I don't like feeling like there was more to the supporting staff of the zoo that I just didn't get to see. It makes the emotionally heavy scenes less impactful than they otherwise would have been. If the film had run 3 hours, I would have still sat through it. In fact I would have prefered it. The film falls just short of being great. Crowe once again almost rekindles his former glory. I hope Crowe's next film blows me away the way Almost Famous did the first time I saw it. I want to be impressed again. We Bought A Zoo flirts with the high standards set by that film, but never really hits the high note it could have.
