We Purchased a Zoo

A twentieth century Fox release presented in colaboration with Dune Entertainment of the LBI Entertainment, Vinyl Films production. Created by Julie Yorn, Cameron Crowe, Ron Yorn. Executive producer, Ilona Herzberg. Co-producers, Paul Deason, Aldric La'Auli Porter, Marc R. Gordon. Directed by Cameron Crowe. Script, Aline Brosh McKenna, Crowe, in the book by Benjamin Mee.Benjamin Mee - Matt Damon Kelly Promote - Scarlett Johansson Duncan Mee - Thomas Haden Chapel Robin Johnson - Patrick Fugit Dylan Mee - Colin Ford Lily Miska - Elle Fanning Rosie Mee - Maggie Elizabeth Johnson Walter Ferris - John Michael Higgins Peter MacCready - Angus MacFadyen Delbert McGinty - Peter Riegert Katherine Mee - Stephanie Szostak Mr. Stevens - JB Smoove"We Purchased a Zoo" is definitely an odd bird, warm-blooded but largely lifeless. Modified from Benjamin Mee's autobiographical account of his encounters because the new who owns a fixer-upper menagerie, Cameron Crowe's overlong pic works tough to deliver intermittent pleasures, many of which be a consequence of Matt Damon's affable lead turn. Animal action, in addition to comedy associated with a variety, remains strangely enough sparse as Crowe strains to create a tribe of his human figures, together with a ragtag zoo-keeping team and also the widowed Mee's two kids. Sneaked nearly per month ahead of time, Fox's holiday offering lacks the zip required to drive upbeat person to person. Though faithful to Mee's book people, Crowe's "Zoo" changes the setting in the British countryside to Los Angeles, and begins with Mee's wife, Katherine, getting already died from illness (she's performed in flashbacks by Stephanie Szostak). Such as the soul-seeking protags of Crowe photos past, Damon's grieving Mee decides at the start of the film to show his existence upside lower, abruptly giving up his job being an L.A. newspaper journo and moving themself and the kids -- teenage Dylan (Colin Ford) and 7-year-old Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Johnson) -- to some rural property whose 18 acres range from the Rosemoor Animal Park. Shuttered years back, but nonetheless the place to find people of countless dozen endangered species, Rosemoor operates through the twentysomething Kelly Promote (Scarlett Johansson), a workaholic animal lover who's skeptical of Mee's intentions until he opens his pocketbook and proves his concern for the kind of Buster, a 650-pound grizzly bear, and Spar, an aged and ailing tiger. Mee also needs to cope with their own brood, particularly Dylan, whose bereavement takes the type of persistent apathy for basically their own ornately grotesque sketches. Where Crowe's classics, "Say Anything" (1989) and "Jerry Maguire" (1996), work their miracle in no small part through indelible supporting figures, "Zoo" is definitely an altogether messier affair. Among an ensemble that never quite coheres are Kelly's teen cousin Lily (Elle Fanning), who flirts with Dylan Robin (Patrick Fugit, who performed Crowe's alter ego in "Almost Famous"), who looks after a capuchin monkey on his shoulder MacCready (Angus MacFadyen), who drinks hard and it has a poor temper and Mee's accountant brother, Duncan (Thomas Haden Chapel), who turns up every occasionally to wag a finger at his not practical brother or sister. Crowe, who co-authored the script with Aline Brosh McKenna, clearly needs to celebrate the group's tireless efforts to reopen the park, only Damon, convincing and pleasant throughout, continues to be given enough to complete. As performed sweetly by Johnson, youthful Rosie is simply another implausibly precocious pre-tween who, like Johansson's underwritten Kelly, is available largely to smile approvingly in the hero. The animals' reaction shots appear somewhat more nuanced, though, surprisingly, "Zoo" handles to shortchange its non-human entertainers too. Per conventional a Crowe film, the soundtrack comes full of treats, even though mixture of Neil Youthful, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan, among many more, lacks the moments of musical epiphany within the director's signature works. The score by Jonsi of Sigur Ros sounds a little saccharine and does not mesh well using the vintage pop. Tech credits, except for the shapeless cutting, are solid but hardly vivid enough to pay for that pic's inadequacies.Camera (Luxurious color), Rodrigo Prieto editor, Mark Livolsi music, Jonsi production designer, Clay Griffith supervisory art director, Peter Borck art director, Domenic Silvestri set decorator, Wayne Shepherd costume designer, Deborah L. Scott seem (Dolby Digital/Datasat Digital/SDDS), Shaun Wexler supervisory seem editors, Mildred Iatrou Morgan, Ai-Ling Lee re-recording mixers, Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett visual effects supervisor, Paul Graff visual effects, Crazy Equine Effects effects supervisor, Burt Dalton stunt planners, Thomas Robinson Harper, Doug Seus connect producers, Jeffrey Harlacker, Michelle Panek assistant director, Aldric La'Auli Porter second unit director, Harper second unit camera, Kaira Shield, Patrick Murguia, Eduardo Mayen casting, Gail Levin. Examined at AMC Eden Prairie 18, Eden Prairie, Minn., November. 26, 2011. MPAA Rating: PG. Running time: 124 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com