We Bought a Zoo review

I LOVE CAMERON CROWE.

The guy has yet to make a bad movie. And please don't even bother bringing up Elizabethtown because that was a great flick.

But this review isn't about Elizabethtown.

It's about We Bought a Zoo which itself is about a man who has just lost his wife and is still reeling from the loss while trying to raise his two kids. Long story short, he wants, needs, craves change and adventure. He wants to do good by his kids and suddenly fate intervenes and a massive opportunity falls in his lap.

That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot. Because this is a Cameron Crowe movie and like all of his movies, the plot isn't necessarily essential (with the arguable exception of Vanilla Sky), what's important is the characters, how they relate, the lessons they learn and what we learn as a viewer from their experiences. Let me tell you, friends, there is some great, heavy, good stuff in this movie. Ultimately it's all about how we relate to one another and how we deal with loss and change. What is family? Who is family? Which species is our family and does it even matter? It's all very deep and emotional and if it weren't handled by a truly great director who has an amazing talent for developing characters in a way that isn't pretentious or heavy-handed this flick wouldn't work. It would be too saccharine and ridiculously lame.

Thankfully, Crowe knows how to push all the right buttons in all the right places with a light touch. He has a gift for this kind of story. One could argue his consistent trend throughout all of his movies and characters is GROWTH. We watch as Jerry Maguire becomes more than just an agent and finds love and friendship along the way. We wonder and are awed as the young reporter becomes friends with the band in Almost Famous and becomes a man by the end of the story. Orlando Bloom struggles to reconnect with his family and his recently dead father who he never really understood as he falls in love with a girl he barely knows in Elizabethtown. And so on and so forth. Sure it's all just words and on paper it doesn't mean much. But Cameron Crowe is a master of magic. Whether it's through a look or a great line he can capture a performance in a way that evokes the story with such a sense of depth and texture that not many can replicate or even attempt. 

He makes you FEEL. That is a gift and the true mark of a great filmmaker.

There's a phenomenal line in this movie, "all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage and I promise you something good will come of it."

OH MY GOD, if that doesn't sell you on this movie, I don't know what will.

Maybe the cast?

Matt Damon is a tour de force in this movie and I believe he deserves an Oscar nom for this role. But he's just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on and on about everyone but I think the most significant find of this flick is the little girl who plays his daughter. Maggie Elizabeth Jones. She is the epitome of ADORABLE.

Watch the movie and she will win your heart over instantly. Trust me.

Yet with every Crowe movie it's like the great lines and actors are a dime a dozen. So it couldn't come as a shock to anyone that the cast is well rounded and superb. I just don't think there's enough time in the day to try and do justice to each and every actor within this movie by my meager writing skills. It would be better for you to just go and see the movie.

Of course I couldn't finish this review without noting that there have practically been novels written to the wonder and power of Crowe's use of music to stir our emotions in connection with a scene. For those who don't know, this is a big power he has and uses as an art form unto itself. MANY have tried to replicate it but very few succeed. He has an almost surgical precision to the songs he picks to accompany any given scene in his movies. We Bought a Zoo is no exception. Rather than try and explain this, I'll give some examples.

Ultimately...

I highly recommend We Bought a Zoo.


10 / 10

Seriously, check it out!