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We Bought a Zoo Reviews
Crowe’s film doesn’t love animals the way it should and never acknowledges the intangible way in which animals affect humans.
...a movie that’s full of forced sentiment and familiar themes that play out exactly as they have in countless other films.
The wonderful interactions and work with the animal co-stars is well done, but it's only effective window dressing to the real project.
is a sunny, lightweight, crowd-pleasing film of a kind that doesnt get made anymore
While the cynical reviewers might ponder why it couldn't have been a farm instead, Cameron Crowe's latest is a tolerable chapter in the personal life of its director.
While many will accuse his adaptation of the real-life British story of the Mees' takeover of Dartmoor Zoological Park as being manipulative and formulaic, there's something warm and uplifting about Crowe's tale of moving on after tragedy.
Too lighthearted and silly for its own good.
It's a sure reminder that Crowe remains one of America's best directors when it comes to the everyday experiences involved in being human.
We Bought A Zoo...lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!
What you see in the title is all you will get from this soft-hearted, yet level-headed family movie. And that's exactly all the target audience needs from such middle-of-the-road fare.
"Zoo" rarely feels authentic -- it's the kind of film that relies on the soundtrack to direct the audience how it is supposed to feel.
The result is something that's hard to buy on almost every level.
Memo to Cameron Crowe: You can't just put a cute kid in a movie and think that's enough to sell the audience on it.
As it stands, the animals may be restored to their former glory at Rosemoor, but the humans deserve better.
Crowe seems unable to layer up the story's sentimentalism with anything subtler than an industrial dumper truck.
Everything is, indeed, tied up exactly the way you know it will be tied up, because it is that sort of film, but it still provides a perfectly agreeable way to spend the two hours you weren't going to do anything with anyway.
Unlike frenetic movies focused on the next laugh, this tender film does not aim at children and hope to bring adults along. Rather, it offers something for each member of the family, blending a sad but ultimately hopeful storyline and some cute animals.
We Bought a Zoo won't change your life, but it will provide two hours of lovely, slightly whimsical escapism.
We Bought a Zoo certainly wins this year's prize for most mediocre, heartwarming family film to win over audiences this holiday season.
Crowe's emotional maturity is Benjamin Button, aging in reverse. Unfortunately, this means that We Bought a Zoo is an excruciating film for anyone not wearing rose-colored glasses.