We Bought a Zoo

This is another movie that I missed during my trip down under earlier this year. For some reason or the other, I just could not get around to it. Either due to lack of time or because the screen was actually in the ass end of nowhere or once when I was out of cash and the establishment didn’t accept a credit card :S. Had to wait for Kaushik (my brother) to come in with cash for the rest of the day.

Just one of those jinxed movies I guess. However, I can assure you it was worth every rupee of the five hundred and ninety nine that I eventually spent on getting the DVD. It came highly recommended by those who had actually downloaded the movie earlier. And I was added to that list of people who loved “We Bought a Zoo”. The fact that it is based on a true story is just one of the reasons for loving it.

You will love We Bought a Zoo because it is based on the real life story of Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) – who also wrote the book (Mee not Damon in case you are confused) of the same name – and his family of a 7 year old daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) and teenage son Dylan (Colin Ford). The family is coming to terms with the loss of the lady of the house – Katherine (Stephanie Szostak).

Benjamin is just not able to forget any of the places that are associated with Katherine. And money was never really a worry for the Mee family. Especially after they inherit quite a bit from their family. Finally, Benjamin decides that it is time for the family to move out of the house that they made into a home. It was time to start afresh.

But the house hunt doesn’t really look positive till the last place in the day – a 16 acre property which used to be the Dartmoor Zoo. Maggie falls in love instantly and after some thought and enough resistance from his Brother Duncan (Thomas Haden Church), Benjamin decides to take the plunge and buy themselves a Zoo. All the adventures he has experienced in his life such as flying into the eye of an actual storm would start to pale in comparison to the one that the Mee’s are about to embark on.

As mentioned earlier, the endearing nature of the story is probably the best part about the movie but lets not forget that it is backed by some really good direction from Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous). And of course the performances are just right. Whether it is from the ever dependable Matt Damon or the extremely pretty Maggie Jones. And then of course there is Hollywood’s hottest Scarlett Johansson :p

Jokes apart – very sweet movie and a must watch with the family if you can. You will love it for certain. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi592747545/