It's all Disney territory, circa 1966, but instead of Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette, we get Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson.
In this film image released by 20th Century Fox, Scarlett Johansson, left, and Matt Damon is shown in a scene from "We Bought a Zoo." (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Neal Preston)“We Bought a Zoo” TWO AND HALF STARS
Rated: PG for some mildly strong language
Running time: 123 minutes
”We Bought a Zoo” is the latest film from Cameron Crowe, who over the years has bought a lot of good will.
His years as a young journalist – which inspired his first success, the story of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and his last, “Almost Famous” – struck a chord with a lot of writers.
His trilogy of love stories – “Say Anything,” “Singles” and “Jerry Maguire” – neatly charted a generation’s growth from high-school idealism to post-college slacking to mid-30s confusion.
But whatever good will he banked was spent heavily over the last decade, with the trippy mess of “Vanilla Sky” and the half-hour-too-long “Elizabethtown.”
And now comes yet another withdrawal, with the desperate-to-be-liked family film “We Bought a Zoo.”
The movie is based on a real story – pretty loosely, as it happens. In real life, the zoo was in England, and purchased by an entire family. In the movies, the zoo’s outside of L.A. and grabbed by a handsome young widower, eager to give his young kids a fresh start.
It’s all Disney family-film territory, circa 1966. Except instead of Dean Jones we get Matt Damon, and instead of Suzanne Pleshette as the plucky (and eligible) zookeeper, we get Scarlett Johansson. The rest of the clichés, though – hissable government regulator, eccentric staff, cute animals and cuter kids – are all lovingly preserved.
Crowe and the cast are too professional not to work hard. As a director, he’s still the best dj in town – the soundtrack is full of tasty music. There are also some quietly mournful moments as Damon looks back at what he’s lost, and one frustratingly inarticulate – and therefore, realistic – scene between frustrated father and mopey teenage son.
A de-glammed Johansson gets some nice, spunky scenes, too, as the take-charge heroine – although, frankly, she almost looks more like Damon’s daughter than his love interest. And the script – which Crowe wrote with the too-prolific Aline Brosh McKenna – is often far-fetched.
Escapism, of course, is fine – the idea of running your own zoo can be a vicarious fantasy all its own.
But don’t ask us to believe that a newspaperman with two kids is going to impulsively quit his hot-shot job – not in that industry, or this economy. Or that a teenage girl is going to court a teenage boy by lovingly bringing him a daily hamper of sandwiches.
These are ideas from old movies, and presented without any of the conviction those pictures used to give them.
The animals, are of course, lovely, and as Damon’s youngest child, Maggie Elizabeth Jones is seriously, scrumptiously adorable. If you’re looking for a safe family film to go to this season – well, you could do far worse, and it’d probably star a bunch of singing CGI chipmunks.
But if you want an emotional animal story that earns its tears, wait for the powerful “War Horse.” And if you want a story about children that demands – and rewards – your attention, search out “Hugo.” “We Bought a Zoo” is just Cameron Crowe coasting – and nice guy though he is, it’s not much of a ride.