I believe he might have tried to, ladies and gentlemen. But he tried to, so amongst the snakes on the loose, monkeys in uniform, grizzly bear spit takes, and cartoonish villains, we have a meditation on loss, a man questioning his authenticity, and a teenager declaring his love outside a young girl's window. The result is a hybrid that is a little underdeveloped and overlong but has its substantial heart in the right place--like a stripped-down and retro-fitted neo-pastoral Prius.
We Bought a Zoo (playing here in the Fort) stars Matt Damon as Benjamin Mee, a recently widowed writer who takes his precocious youngest daughter Rose and bitter older son Dylan to the country after the latter's explulsion from school for theft. The rambling fixer-upper the father and daughter fall in love with comes with an equally dilapidated zoo equipped with magnificent animals and a misfit staff. And here's where the neo-pastoral comes in. Benjamin, and the film itself, argue that by retreating from the modern world (there's an early rant from Benjamin about the digitalization of his profession) and surrounding oneself with animals and nature, healing of the self and family will result. And that's pretty much what happens. Being around hatching peacocks and aging tigers and a regal lion suggestively named Solomon, who lords over the film like a secular Aslan, does help the family move through grief for their lost mother and wife.
But, any English major worth his or her salt knows that the pastoral is always a fantasy--that nostalgia for a "simpler life" papers over the backbreaking toil and poverty that often accompany working the land. This film is intimate with the labor, and the loss, that comes with a rural life. We Bought a Zoo also sets up a dichotomy between humans and animals only to collapse it, which is another tweak of the pastoral narrative. Scarlett Johansson plays Kelly, a zookeeper who is "awkward" and lonely in the way some films like to position beautiful women. She asserts that she would rather be with animals than people. The movie then demolishes that distinction by showing human mourning, liberation, and creativity refracted through the lives of the animals around them, which are all beautifully shot and will be the only part of the film any kids you might bring to this movie will actually like. Trust me--they'll be confused and bored for the rest.
But the pastoral trend is still strong in the narrative on one count: It is easier to romanticize the country from a place of privilege. And the Mee family, despite some money troubles associated with bringing the zoo up to code that are relieved through a bit of Signs-esque mater ex machina, is undoubtedly wealthy. And I rolled my eyes a bit at the recurring gag about the nearest Target being, gasp, nine miles away.
We Bought a Zoo will deliver two elements that fans of Cameron Crowe have come to expect: a star-studded supporting cast and a killer soundtrack. On the former front, Thomas Haden Church as Benjamin's brother, Patrick Fugit of Almost Famous as a random zoo employee, and Elle Fanning as a young random zoo employee and pixie dream girl in training are among the standouts. On the latter, there is a truly inspired score by Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi mixed in with some 90s nostalgia hits. They may have bought the zoo, but I'll be buying the soundtrack.
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