A Family-Friendly Film: ‘We Bought a Zoo’

The big, old house up for sale is beautiful. Recently-widowed Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is ecstatic as he stands inside one of its large, empty rooms. He’s certain that this is the home to buy to provide a fresh start for his family. But his first-day-on-the-job realtor is ironically insistent in dissuading him.

“It has some complications to it,” he says. Before he can explain, a loud roar erupts from outside, making his point for him. “It’s a zoo.” Ben is shocked, but his daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) is pleased. “Yay!” she shouts.

Roaring lions and cute kids that say the darndest things are fun details that make We Bought a Zoo (released Dec. 23) wildly heartwarming and entertaining. The message of hope and new beginnings, that the story is centered around, are powerful and encouraging. According to Ben, “All it takes is twenty seconds of insane courage to change your life.” And “Why not?” (another popular line.)

After all, 20 seconds are all it takes to quit your job, buy a zoo and start a new chapter in life (maybe 20 seconds each.)

Of course there are plenty of scenes that will have moviegoers reaching for a tissue, but they’re offset with an equal amount of fun and comical moments that provide a great experience for kids and adults alike.

In one scene, as Dylan (Colin Ford) and Rosie are husking corn for dinner, their dad regretfully informs them that there is no butter in the house—which is a total of 9 miles off from the grocery store. “Eighteen miles,” he says, reminding them of the length of the trip, up and back. He takes a vote to determine how imperative butter is to their meal, and the movie cuts to a scene of him pulling up in his truck, hopping out and exclaiming, “Eighteen miles for butter!” to which his son replies, “You know I found some, right?”

Perhaps it’s a combination of humor, people-pleasing animals, the range of ages of characters featured, and the various themes that make the movie watchable and relate-able to many…Some more than others: Before the movie started, Jean Flannagan, a worker at the Philadelphia Zoo and a future veterinarian said she was excited to see the animals in the film and would “hands down” buy a zoo if she could. “I want to see the animals, but also the story behind them, since it’s based on a true story.”

At the end of the film, Nicole and Tim Olney* and their daughter Carly walk out of the theater and are as happy to have seen the movie as Flannagan was anxious to see it. “It was very sentimental,” Nicole said.  She believes it teaches audiences to “never give up." Nicole would recommend the movie to everyone.

Maureen Lyons and Karen Singleton also enjoyed the movie and were happy that it left out much of the inappropriate material that tends to pervade many films today.

“There wasn’t any violence, which was very refreshing,” Lyons said. Her favorite scene was when the young zoo worker Lily (Elle Fanning) replaces a zoo sign with one that says “If you love me, let me know,” a message meant to be seen by Dylan.

While the Cameron Crowe movie started off slow in the box office opening day, with total earnings of nearly $3 million, it received excellent reviews from the majority of its major critics and has since picked up speed, raking in $23 million to date.

Overall, We Bought a Zoo, proved to please many viewers. As the ending captions scroll up the screen, kids and their parents applaud the movie and its ‘real-life’ ending.