Matt Damon gives a solid turn in We Bought a Zoo

Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church
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Whether or not it is the marital breakdown taking part in out within the background of ET, or the unrealised desires that torment the aged hero of Pixar’s Up, the most effective household motion pictures are sometimes those with tragedy at their cores.

By no means one to under-egg the emotional pudding with movies comparable to Jerry Maguire and Virtually Well-known, Crowe’s newest work affords a masterclass in sentimentality, however remarkably little else.

Primarily based on the true story of a British man who revamped Dartmoor Zoological Park, the movie relocates the story to southern California and sees Damon’s character struggling to boost his kids after the current loss of life of their mom. Throwing warning and monetary duty to the wind, he quits his job and buys a dilapidated zoo, hoping that the “journey” will convey his household nearer collectively. Shock, shock – the duty is more durable than first anticipated.

In addition to the Subject of Goals-like quest, the movie affords two romances, a comedy villain and even a soundtrack by the angelic-voiced Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi, all designed to wash the viewer’s coronary heart in a perpetual magic-hour glow. However, at instances, the emotional assault begins to really feel bludgeoning, and regardless of effective performances from Damon, his love curiosity Johansson and the younger forged, the plot affords few surprises to fall again upon.

We Purchased A Zoo is undeniably candy and good-natured, however the outright inevitability of each its story and its emotional trajectory render it merely a mean household film, somewhat than the nice one we’d have anticipated from Crowe.