We Bought a Zoo

During the first half of We Bought a Zoo, there’s an exchange during which a zookeeper asks a widower, “Why did you buy this place?”

That’s one of the many questions that remain unanswered in this story of a father who tries to reconnect with his children by renovating a rundown southern California animal park.

The film might be based on a true story — namely a book by Benjamin Mee — but it’s filled with the usual creature cuteness and broad slapstick expected from a mainstream Hollywood film in which the animals take center stage.

Matt Damon plays Benjamin, who quits his job as an idealistic journalist only to find his two young children are having a difficult time getting over the recent death of their mother. So he decides to uproot the family and move to a rural house, not knowing at first that it also includes ownership of a recently closed zoo with a full roster of wild animals and a staff tending to them, led by strong-willed Kelly (Scarlett Johansson).

Despite his lack of zoological knowledge, Benjamin decides that renovating and re-opening the zoo might be just the fresh start his family needs, even if his brother (Thomas Haden Church) advises against the risky financial investment.

The slick and stylish film lacks the usual edge of director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire), who also polished the script by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada). It strains to be uplifting and winds up feeling phony.

Damon signals perhaps a career transition in terms of leading roles as a family man whose intentions are pure even if his attempts at catharsis are overzealous. There’s a level of poignancy in his performance as a grieving widower whose well-meaning attempt to heal his family allows him to gain perspective.

Being a family-friendly holiday film that is first and foremost a crowd-pleaser, We Bought a Zoo indulges in some high jinks involving kids and animals, as well as quirky supporting characters.

To its credit, the film has some zoology tidbits to offer, even if it lacks subtlety during a schmaltzy subplot about a terminally ill tiger.

How much of the true story survived the translation to the big screen? Who knows, but there simply aren’t many surprises amid all the sentimentality.

Rated PG, 123 minutes.