Does everyone remember when Cameron Crowe was great? Say Anything, Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire; films so filled with heart, hope, humour and humanity that they left not only his characters more inspired, but his audiences and actors too – hell, he even managed to extract an Oscar-nominated performance from Kate ‘Rom Com’ Hudson.
But somewhere between the unfairly lampooned Vanilla Sky and the very fairly lambasted Elizabethtown, Crowe’s heart lost its mind. Though as heartfelt as ever, featuring likeable characters, impossible dreams and (awww look!!) baby peacocks, We Bought A Zoo lacks the biting intelligence and insight of his earlier work. It’s a sugar packet below schmaltz, a tears-by-numbers puzzle. It’s Cameron Crowe Yoghurt: low-fat and vanilla-flavoured to go down easy.
Based on the true story of the Guardian’s former DIY columnist Benjamin Mee who relocated to a private zoo, Matt Damon plays the widowed journalist who trades in normal life for a world where Johansson plays a zookeeper; Patrick Fugit is ‘Man with Monkey’ and there’s lots of lions and tigers and bears!
In fairness, Damon puts in an endearing performance as always, and Crowe’s light-saturated shots of the lush Californian wildlife park are stunning, while the kids couldn’t be cuter. As a zoo aid, Elle Fanning is a big blonde mess of toothy-grinned heartwarm, while Benjamin’s daughter Maggie Elizabeth Jones is like the twin sister of Jerry Maguire’s Jonathan Lipnicki – wide-eyed and wise beyond her years, she’s always one heart-melting smile away from telling you that a tiger cub weighs three pounds.
But apart from Jónsi’s stunning and emotive score, there’s no energy to proceedings, no spark. Like Johansson’s depressed tiger, We Bought A Zoo never roars into real action or emotion; it merely chuffs along, content to distract all and affect few. Damon’s personal tragedy, his budding romance with Johansson, son Dylan’s internal struggles, even the animals, are all examined from a safe distance. Though a nice, inoffensive and sweet film, it’s ultimately a cinematic zoo; all looking, no feeling.