Review of We Bought a Zoo (2011) by Nikhil P — 23 Apr 2014

I expected this to be way better than it was. Actually I was kinda surprised that with this cast and director how...well, not bad but mediocre it ended up being. It was a little vague and choppy at times, silly (the evil zoo inspector) and the daughter was just way too precocious. I also could have done without the overbearing score of music, TELLING me how to feel -cue tearjerker moment. And even though this is based on an autobiography it still felt clichéd, like you've seen this family drama play out before. The zoo being the only original aspect. It is a nice family movie though, all about healing and moving on and exotic animals, and Matt and Scarlett do a good enough job.

I also think it would have played out better if they'd kept it in England, as it was written. By moving it to America all the eccentric secondary characters fell flat and it made little sense that there was a functioning pub on his land especially when the zoo was closed. These aspects made just me want to read the book. 4/23/14.