Un zoológico en casa

We bought a zoo is a great movie to go see with the family. Damon flaunts his emotional acting abilities with great form but the stage stealer is young Maggie Elizebeth Jones playing Damon's seven year old daughter. Jones is an eccentric little girl who is bound to bring laughter and Aww's out of you. Elle Fanning does a great job as always; Tomas Haden Church plays his perfect role, and Scarlett Johansson levels things out very nicely.

If you want a lot of emotion with consistent laughter, We Bought a Zoo is a great Sunday afternoon choice. Bound to bring tears, smiles and laughter, with a great true story to back it up.

This film, starring Matt Damon, was unequivocally everything I had hoped it would be. Upon viewing the trailer while waiting to watch The Muppets, there were tears in my eyes and my heart skipped a beat as I remembered I wasn't watching the film itself, just the preview.

The film came out yesterday and to my luck, my mother invited me to go and see it with her this evening. I was thrilled to see that the music throughout the film was performed by a favorite Icelandic musician, Jónsi, with a perfect selection of "Holocene" from Bon Iver's new album. It was little details such as these that kept me appreciating the film from start to finish.

The plot may have been at times predictable but they were predictions you wanted to happen; conflict you wanted to be resolved and rain you wish would stop. Coming into the theater already a Matt Damon fan I was interested to see how he was going to fill the widowed father role. A few things a noticed; Matt does look older, he is still as handsome as ever, and he should stick with a shorter haircut. Aside from my personal opinion, I think anyone leaving the theater could agree he played the roll wonderfully.

The warmhearted character of adorable Maggie Elizabeth Jones, melted my heart every time she was on the screen. Her character, "Rosie" was the seven year old whose dreams came true; her Dad moved them to a zoo. My favorite scene is when the Realtor tells Matt Damon's character, "Benjamin" that the house they wanted to buy was also a zoo. As Benjamin stood there dumbfounded, Rosie Jumped up and down as any seven year old would shouting "Yay!". Seriously, the cutest thing ever.

If the cast didn't win you over the animals did. Tigers, lions, bears, snakes, monkeys, owls, otters, peacocks, etc. The list goes on and on. Each personality portrayed in a relatable way as if you were on the team helping run the zoo itself.

If you and your family are wanting to go see a movie this holiday season, go and see We Bought A Zoo. It is the perfect film to tug at your heart strings, leave you with tears in your eyes, and hope in your heart.

We Bought A Zoo is a heart-warming, fun movie. The casting is a good as you could wish for and if I had to choose, I'd pick this as my favorite Matt Damon film. For anyone who loves animals, and I have to confess I'm about head of the line as one of them, this is a marvelous picture with not only the people personalities shining forth, but so too the animals. In most cases, we all know that the brief film clips shown prior to the movie are supposed to be showing the best of the picture. In this case, that is far from the truth. I almost passed this delightful movie up because all I could think of was, if this is the best there is...I don't think so. I'm so glad I opted to see it in spite of my reservations. Who ever picked the preview clips should be fired...or retrained, perhaps, because what they went with most certainly didn't do this movie justice. Not even close. It's a really enjoyable movie and I'd recommend it to everyone.

Greetings again from the darkness. Director Cameron Crowe has finally emerged from his cocoon - 7 years after the abysmal Elizabethtown. Yes, he has had a couple of projects in that time, notably the Pearl Jam documentary, but he has avoided anything related to his dramatic film roots of which produced "Say Anything", "Jerry Maguire" and "Almost Famous". This time he delivers a feel good, family appropriate, sentimental crowd-pleaser that should play very well to the holiday crowd.

Please know I do not use "sentimental" as a derogatory term. Sure there are moments where the actions and dialogue seem contrived and manipulative, but some of the best crowd-pleasers throughout Hollywood history have these same traits. This film is based on a true story and uses Benjamin Mee's autobiographical book as the basic source material. The real Mee family and their zoo, are stationed in England, not southern California as Crowe presents them. What I can tell you is that this version of the Mee family and the zoo staff is interesting and entertaining, even if you just have to let go and allow yourself to be guided through.

Matt Damon plays Benjamin Mee and the story picks up after his wife dies. He soon quits his job and moves his two kids to the country so they can work through their grief and start fresh. His teenage son Dylan is played with blazing anger by the talented Colin Ford. The precocious 7 year old daughter is played by scene-stealer Maggie Elizabeth Jones. This family experiences the realities of struggling with their pain and difficulties in communicating.

As for the zoo, it is in major disrepair and in danger of closing if it doesn't pass its pending inspection. Benjamin works with the rag-tag staff, including head zookeeper Kelly (Scarlett Johansson), to bring the facility up to code and nurse the sick animals back to health. As the zoo is rehabbed, so are the individuals. No surprise there.

The main conflict in the story comes from the hard-headedness of Benjamin and Dylan, as they ignore their inability to communicate and connect as father and son. A couple of their scenes together are the best in the film for acting and realistic dialogue. At the same time, Kelly acts as a quasi-love interest for Benjamin, while Lily (Elle Fanning) uses puppy love to help Dylan through his misery. That sub-plot is where Crowe missed a real chance. Ms. Fanning is one of the top young actresses working today and her contributions here are limited to that luminescent smile.

The wild cast of supporting actors includes wise-cracking Thomas Haden Church as Benjamin's brother, JB Smoove as the Realtor, Peter Riegert as Mee's editor, Patrick Fugit (from Almost Famous) as the guy with a monkey on his shoulder, Angus Macfadyen as the colorful zoo maintenance man, and John Michael Higgins as the snooty zoo inspector who knowingly holds their future in his smarmy hand.

As always, Crowe uses music better than most any other director. This includes his use of score and soundtrack to compliment a scene or drive the setting and mood. What really makes this film work is Matt Damon. His character is the heart of the film and the soul of the family. His performance is strong enough to prevent the film from lapsing into pure sap and makes us care for him, his family and this zoo. Don't expect some cutting edge, independent sulk fest. Just accept the movie for what it is ... a feel good story delivered for the holidays.

Cameron Crowe never fails to deliver hart warming drama-comedies that make you laugh, cry and keep you on the edge of your seat for duration of his films. For me personally, I never seem to agree with Crowe's casting taste (Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson never do much for me) but Cameron has a way with actors and a true vision for his story. He always seems to know exactly who can capture his characters and ultimately draw out your emotions that he's tugging at.

In We Bought a Zoo, there is a bit of a slow start and at one point I was worried Cameron had lowered his voice to appeal to a larger audience to please producers and critics alike (after his Critically-bombed but personal all time fav, Elizabethtown).

But let me tell you, pay your dues with the first half of this film because the second half will take you on a mesmerizing cinematic adventure you'll be heartbroken for more. Cameron ventures into a new family drama without compromising his voice, music taste or quality film making. And if you are still not a huge CC fan, the animals are sure to win you over. Their beautiful and natural moments on screen are as breath taking as they are tear-jerking.

Spend an amazing two hours with this film and there won't be a person in your household that won't agree that this film is one to remember. From a fan and living-room-critic, I give it two thumbs up :)