We Bought a Zoo - 8th September 2015

Tuesday Night is Film Night is back after missing a week last week, busy busy! This week we settle down to watch;

We Bought a Zoo

Tonight's film is based on the true story of Benjamin Mee, who did in actual fact buy a zoo. The one fact, that we've just found out, that is not portrayed in the film is the real zoo is based in England.

Matt Damon stars as Benjamin Mee, a recently widowed husband, left with two kids to bring up. When things start to go wrong with his eldest child; Dylan, who gets expelled from school, Benjamin looks to how they can improve their life and maybe even have a fresh start. To achieve this, he starts to look for a new house, to get away from the constant reminders of his loved, but late wife. He finds nothing suitable on the list of available properties, until he discovers the perfect house that, according to the Estate Agent; ".... has complications". The complications being it comes with a zoo attached and the clause in the purchase states that any new owner must take on the zoo, even though it is rundown and not up to specification.

Clearly Benjamin likes a challenge, as he buys the zoo, thinking that it will help his son Dylan. His daughter Rosie needs no encouragement and she loves the new life. The film then follows the real struggles that Benjamin and his family have to face getting the zoo up together, luckily when he took on the zoo, he also took on the staff and Head Keeper Kelly (Scarlett Johansson) is keen to revitalise the zoo and ensure that it passes the necessary inspections to be open to the public again. Kelly is also a love interest for Benjamin, although he is still mourning the death of his wife Katherine and really cannot let her go.

It is a brilliant story, made that little bit more special by the mere fact that is based upon a true story. Clearly it has been given the Hollywood treatment and certain aspects have been changed, not least the location! Matt Damon is great as Benjamin, although sometimes upstaged by Maggie Elizabeth Jones who played his daughter Rosie, a very confident young (7 years old) actress. Scarlett Johansson is also worth mentioning, she plays the character of Kelly really well, being forceful and driven to save the zoo, but clearly with a growing crush on Benjamin, giving that underlying thread of romance to the story. This is also true with Dylan too (Colin Ford) who also sparks a flame of love into the heart of Lily, a teenager that works at the zoo. So there's a multi-faceted thread to the story which easily fills the two hour running time.

All in all We Bought a Zoo maintains a sweet innocence to the story, with the zoo playing the underdog as it were and everyone loves to see an underdog win. There's a fair amount of jeopardy thrown in to add tension, along with a modicum of zoological comedy to raise a few laughs. Certainly a fun family film and one to look out for.

TNiFN Rating 77%

IMDB Link