Yes, No, Maybe So: "We Bought A Zoo"
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 4:17PM Perhaps it's my childhood calling but I've been looking forward to We Bought A Zoo all year on account of me likey the wild animals. I even initially thought it might be in the Oscar race on account of inspirational film and comeback possibilities for its director. But that was then... We finally have a trailer for Cameron Crowe's first movie since everybody decided to shun him (Elizabethtown) just a few short years after everyone decided that they worshipped him (Almost Famous). In the new film Matt Damon plays a widower (I think? It's unclear) struggling to raise his kids from central casting: let's call them Quippy Cute Moppet and Mopey Teenager In Need Of Fathering. The family is sad and needs a fresh start. They buy... wait for it... A ZOO!
Now, let's break it down with our patented Yes, No, Maybe So system. Does the trailer make us eager, eager to avoid or leave us somewhere inbetween?
YES
- Matt Damon is aging gracefully, still handsome and still a belieavable everyman type. He'll undoubtedly be sympathetic as a widower with needy kids.
- Wild Animals! Wild animals that don't dream of hanging out at TGIF with Kevin James. If you couldn't picture yourself jumping up and down with glee (ages 8 and under) when you heard that your new house is a zoo just like Quippy Cute Moppet you have grown way too cynical.
- Damon + Thomas Haden Church + Elle Fanning + Scarlett Johansson = solid starry blonde cast.
- Wait... is Scarlett Johansson playing a real person this time? Like not an idealized muse but an ordinary woman?
NO
- Ugh. Turns out that Quippy Cute Moppet is a signatory to Hollywood's Mandatory Dissing of Bald Men Act. Haters gon' hate.
- Ugh. Turns out that it's yet another movie that buys into America's dullard hatred of Elitist Education and Actual Job Training in favor of Blind Worship of Chutzpah. Just Do It! "You don't need any special knowledge to run a zoo, just a lot of heart"... uhhhhh, don't you need some specialized knowledge of how to care for LIVING WILD ANIMALS ?! I'm guessing: yes. Heart won't help you if the animals have a toothache or a pregnancy!
- The music chosen for the trailer (bonus point to the first person who names it in the comments) is shorthand for Inspirational Underscore.
- So too is the golden hue and pensive sunlight shorthand for Inspirational Film.
- So too are the constant inspirational pep talks shorthand for Inspirational Pep Ta... uh, well.
- Will there be any single beat in this movie that isn't flat and processed and predictably shaped like a slice of American cheese?
- Is that moment that Matt Damon is all "whoa" with his body when he hears the lion roar, straight out of Amateur Slapstick 101 or is this trailer's editing just completely unforgiving?
- "I want them to have an authentic American experience." I hope Matt isn't talking about raising his kids within a zoo because I've never met anyone who grew up in a non-figurative one.
- Let me guess, Mopey Teenager In Need of Fathering falls in love with Elle Fanning? Is this going to be a distracting subplot in order to have something for everyone ala that high school crush thread in Crazy Stupid Love?
Little Known Fact: Excessive Exposure to Bathetic Platitudes and Inspirational Media Causes MigrainesMAYBE SO
- Though it looks insufferably like a Generic Inspirational Family Film with wild animals as merely decorative distraction, who knows. Trailers are meant to appeal to the widest possible audience.
- Maybe the bear eats Quippy Cute Moppet?
The "No" column is awfully robust, I fear.
Where do you fall with this one? Or on Cameron Crowe in general actually? Tell me you at least love wild animals.
Reader Comments (31)
Because it's Cameron Crowe, I'm going to hold out some hope that the trailer's sense of endless cheese is more marketing than it is the actual film. But if it does end up being a sappy family film (a genre that never goes away), I don't doubt it'll be one of the best I've seen in years.
The song is Sigur Rós - Hoppípolla!!
I agree with Alex... I'm hoping the cheese is just for marketing purposes...
Music: Sigur Ros!
Someone at incontention said it. What do I know..
I'm a No and you gave me even more reasons for that. You should work at anti-marketing ;)
(marketing for the competition)
But really, I wouldn't want to be in their places. Visiting a zoo is great; but being there while they suffer or die? No, thank you!
More specifically, the song is called Hoppipolla.
Oh, I see I'm late AND my spelling was poor....
I loved Elizabethtown, Crowe is good in directing stars and Damon and Johansson are very likeable... but this one looks terrible to me.
Yes, this looks pretty generic and sappy, but enjoyably so. I certainly won't complain when this ends up being a family consensus pick over the holidays.
Good Trailer.
But the song is for ever reserved by the trailer from "Children of Men"! ;)
Hmm, it does look pretty sappy and generic, but at least enjoyably so. I certainly won't be whining when this ends up being one of my family's consensus picks over the holidays.
Opps, thought I accidentally closed the window instead of submitting the first comment. Darn computers!
It could be cheesy, but I definitely wanna see it. That girl's reaction to the zoo was perfect.
"flat and processed" explains exactly why I've never been a fan of Crowe's. I admit, that being the case, this trailer was going to have to work hard to excite me. Crowe's movies seem so manufactured to hit every perfect emotional beat to the point of artificiality. There's no room for surprise. Even the people in the movie seem to know this, and never really regard their dramatic tension with that much seriousness. For example: failing at your job, going broke and teetring on the edge of homelessness with kids to raise is a genuine potentially messy real world concern. Worrying about giving said kids an "authentic American experience" is not. Also that scene where Matt Damon quits feels very Jerry Maguire.
Seriously...I see this as being a silly family comedy featuring an elephant pooping on the roof and breaking it. Or something stupid like that.
NO.
The song is Hoppipolla by Sigur Rus...
Unfortunately, I never had hopes for this movie. The entire premise of an ordinary man purchasing a zoo in order to mitigate the loss of his wife or whatever the family is going through seemed farfetched. The trailer just confirmed my fears. I think we've seen this type of family drama over and over and over and over (you get my point) again. The whole movie is condensed in that trailer..we already know they're going to overcome the tragedy and Scarlett Johansson's character is going to fall in love with Matt Damon's character and the kids are going to have a new mom (this is my prediction from the trailer). That scene with the roaring lion seemed ludicrous, the little girl seems smarter than her years, and we've seen that preteen boy in many movies. I'm only watching it if it gets traction or good reviews.
Secretariat of 2011.
I get weird from people when I tell them I'm seeing it for ScarJo. But, I'm seeing it for ScarJo. I'm insanely curious to see what she's done since her Tony win (this was shot after A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, I think) and I sort of feel badly for her in terms of how everyone was on her bandwagon for all of seven seconds, and then immediately hopped off. Her Nola Rice is still my favourite Woody performance since the 90s.
(What is with the Andrews on this board? Just for reference, I'm not the Andrew K. above :/)
I read Benjamin Mee's memoir in which the movie was based so the "You don't need any special knowledge to run a zoo, just a lot of heart" makes sense to me, but the trailer didn't impressed me... but it didn't disapointed me!
I think the cast looks very good (exclude Damon's character's son) - Damon seems great and, as you mentioned, Scarlett is playing a normal girl (something that didn't happen since Lost In Translation)
If "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is the feel-bad movie of this Christmas, I think I will name "We Bought a Zoo" the feel-good one! I think I will just keep expectations lower and hope being impressed by Cameron Crowe...
I'll wait for the reviews on this one. It looks pretty sweet, and I think there's a lot of potential for some good drama and warm moments, even if it is sappy. I don't mind sap and I love sentimentality when it's well handled (which makes me a minority in an Internet community filled with cynical people). I can see how the kid might get on your nerves, but I don't mind a good teenage romance storyline either (plus, Elle Fanning in one of them, and she made all her scenes in Super 8 work). So, I'm on the "wait-and.see" wagon.
Me likey animals, me likey Matt Damon, and even me likey Thomas Haden Church, but me thinky little moppet is toooooo much. Still maybe want to see it, even so.
i'll pump 'em so full of sap they'll have to blow their nose with a pancake - lisa simpson
I feel so played. I feel so...played. Also, I HATE Thomas Haden Church. I'm using the word "hate" here.
But on the plus side, Patrick Fugit.
where's kevin james?
SIGUR ROS which is appropriate, since its lead singer Jonsi is scoring the film
I love the bald men part! haha
I really don't think so. (The best thing that I can say about it is...at least it's not starring Adam Sandler!)
Well that didn't look like the most promising trailer but I guest I'm a Yes for the sake of Cameron Crowe alone, not to mention the strong cast. Jerry Maguire is the last (if not the only) romantic comedy I really love. And Almost Famous is probably the movie i've watched again and again...probably the most times ever. Mmm, haven't watched Elizabethtown yet though.
No. Thanks. Bye.
Even as a HUGE fan of Sigur Rós/Jónsi, I'M getting sick of hearing Hoppipolla used so damn much as "inspirational underscore" like you said, Nathaniel: granted it's been used well (the trailers for Children of Men and Slumdog Millionaire especially), but UGH!
However, like it's been said previously, Jónsi is doing the score for We Bought a Zoo, so not really surprising that they would use this music...I'm excited to hear what he comes up with, nonetheless =)
Yes: I like Cameron Crowe and I wish him well. I hope the movie is at least a moderate success. And as Deborah Lipp posted, there's Patrick Fugit in it.
No: I find Matt Damon intrinsically dull ( and yes, I liked Bourne and even Hereafter). The very idea of a zoo makes me want to see the My Family and Other Animals BBC series again (about Gerald Durrell's childhood in Corfu). I doubt I'll see this one.
It's based on a true life story. The owner, Benjamin Mee, bought the zoo with his wife (and 2 kids), mother and brother in Devon, UK. It was run down. A BBC documentary series followed the family's progress trying to get the zoo back up together and it was rivetting viewing - albeit heartbreaking because Ben's wife died of cancer during filming. The family pulled themselves together and made a go of the zoo. So it just shows that sappy and cheesy things can also be true things. I visited the zoo last year, and it's small but clearly run with a lot of passion - and dare I say it - heart. Plus, the meerkats were mega cute..