Review 104: We Bought a Zoo

Sweet and gentle natured, We Bought a Zoo is a lovely experience for the whole family  and two fantastic performances from stars Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson.

 

Loosely based on the memoir We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee; Widowed father Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) gives up a lucrative newspaper job, after his teenage son Dylan (Colin Ford) gets into trouble, to move his family to the most unlikely of places: a zoo! With help from an eclectic, led by zookeeper Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson) and many misadventures along the way, Benjamin embarks on a fresh beginning to restore the dillapidated zoo to its former glory, while uniting his family.

 

From what information that that I've been able to look up, Benjamin Mee and his family really did buy a zoon. The Dartmoor Zoological in Devon, England (moved to Southern California for the movie) originally opened in 1968 and then closed in 2006 before being purchased by the Mee family. It's a wonderful celebration of the human spirit.

the cinematography is winsome and captures the attractive allure of the Zoo and the Southern California setting. The score by Jonsi

Matt Damon gives a heartfelt performance 

Scarlett Johansson  Johansson and Damon have a wonderfully warm screen presence and chemistry

Dylan and Benjamin have something of a 

 

Elle Fanning 

 

Thomas Haden Church

J. B. Smoove also has a few funny moments playing Mr. Stevens, the real estate agent who sells Benjamin the house.