We're Buying a Zoo - Blu-Ray

Film: It's taken over six years for Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire) to bring a new work to theaters after his last feature Elizabethtown. But the wait was worth it. For his family film We're Buying a Zoo, based on the autobiographical book by Benjamin Mee, is feel-good cinema of a particularly enchanting kind, giving the viewer two hours of pure sunshine.

The film tells the story of journalist Benjamin (Matt Damon), who can't get over the death of his wife, as he is reminded everywhere of the love of his life. And so he decides to make a fresh start. Against the advice of his brother Duncan (Thomas Hayden Church) and despite the vehement protests of his son Dylan (Colin Ford), Benjamin buys an old country house, which includes a huge plot of land. But the estate's 70,000 square feet aren't just trees, meadows and fields. The house also includes the once-popular Rosemoor Animal Park, a now-closed zoo but still home to dozens of animals. Their survival was previously governed by the estate of the former owners. But now that the zoo has a new owner, it's up to Benjamin to make sure it can continue. The team, led by dedicated zookeeper Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson), doesn't give the inexperienced newcomer much of a chance and is already resigned to having to look for new jobs soon. But Benjamin puts all his money and willpower into making the zoo shine again and open to the public. But whether good will alone is enough for this endeavor soon seems questionable...

Naturally, Cameron Crowe has changed the story behind We're Buying a Zoo a bit to make a true cinematic tale out of the true incident. For instance, the zoo was moved from the southwest of England to the United States. In addition, the purchase of the zoo was much more complicated than depicted in the film, due to bureaucratic reasons and Mee's complete inexperience. The former columnist for THE GUARDIAN newspaper had to wait a whole two years for the purchase to be approved. Probably the most important change, however, is that it wasn't the death of Mee's wife that prompted him to buy the zoo, as she actually passed away after the family had already moved into their new residence. But even though this actually reduces the true core of the story to just the purchase of the zoo, it still has enough magic to make the cinematic realization a particularly charming piece of movie magic.

Crowe proves to be the perfect director to make that very magic happen. In doing so, he relies on the very strengths that have made his previous films so outstanding. His script contains exactly the right mixture of drama and comedy, the musical background is perfectly tuned and the characters are drawn in an extremely endearing way. Kelly Foster's team, for instance, are a group of quirky yet somehow genuinely likeable guys you'd love to spend more time with. Even the vain and extremely fussy zoo inspector is somehow so charmingly portrayed that it's really fun to watch him judge Benjamin's existence.

This is, of course, thanks not only to Crowe's direction and script, but also to the great cast. Besides the many good actors, which also include Patrick Fugit from Crowe's masterpiece Almost Famous or the wonderful Thomas Hayden Church (Sideways), especially Matt Damon and a very charming Scarlett Johansson leave a really good impression. Damon shows a very reserved, natural side, which suits him well and also proves his acting versatility, which is often denied to him. The secret star of the film, however, is Maggie Elizabeth Jones, who takes the audience's hearts by storm as Benjamin's seven-year-old daughter Rosie and provides some of the film's most endearing moments. A real godsend for the film.

We're Buying a Zoo makes no secret of the fact that it doesn't want to be a deep drama, but a pure feel-good movie that uses simple devices (cute kids, funny animals, gorgeous scenery, likeable do-gooders) to manipulate the audience's emotions. And that's a good thing. Because Crowe doesn't distract with a cramped effort at pretension from simply providing two hours of simple, beautiful entertainment that's full of heart and just plain good fun. He's conjured up a place on screen you'd love to travel to immediately and created characters you'd love to call your friends. Yes, it's a little cheesy at times, and there's a little bit of pathos thrown in at the end. But it's done in a way that you, as a viewer, are all too happy to be lulled by. So you don't need a whole zoo, you just need to buy this Blu-Ray to feel really good. And therefore also applies: absolutely worth seeing!!

Picture + Sound: With its very warm colors, a good detail sharpness, which is broken up only in some somewhat soft-drawn scenes, and coherent contrasts, the very clean image of the Blu-Ray can convince in almost every moment. The sound remains largely restrained. The quiet music and dialogue are well-matched. Here and there, smaller effects, such as various animal sounds or thunder, provide a bit of movement in the surround. Good!

Extras: A really compelling bonus package has been put together for the Blu-ray. Things kick off with an audio commentary by Cameron Crowe, Mark Livolsi, who was responsible for the editing, and supporting actor JB Smoove, who makes a small appearance in the film as a realtor. Although Smoove in particular keeps trying to liven up the conversation, the whole thing is interesting but also a bit dry. It is commendable that there are optional subtitles in various languages for the commentary, as there are for the rest of the extras.

Continue with twenty cut or extended scenes, which have turned out to be quite extensive with a total running time of over 37 minutes. Here, the viewer gets to see more of the first zoo tour, learns that Benjamin received energetic support from many volunteers for the recent renovations, and that there was quite a close relationship between Benjamin's brother Duncan and Dylan, of which little is seen in the film. The longest sequence, however, highlights the zoo opening. There are quite a few moments to be seen here that conclude some plot elements - like the picture Dylan got of Lily (Elle Fanning) with the first sandwich, or else the feud between McCready ( Angus MacFadyen) and zoo inspector Ferris (John Michael Higgins). Former accountant Rhonda (Carla Gallo) also gets to make a small final appearance here. Although it becomes clear why some of the scenes were cut, some of the moments would have definitely enhanced the finished film.

Worth watching continues with a multi-part making of that goes into detail about the back story, the location and how it became a movie zoo, the rehearsals, the actual filming and working with the animals in just under 75 minutes. A very nice and interesting documentary that is way above the level of usual promo making ofs. Just seeing how the Greenfield Ranch in Thousand Oaks, California was turned into a real zoo in just a few weeks is really impressive.

Continues with a 17 minute short documentary about the music for the film, which is primarily an in-depth conversation between Cameron Crow and Icelandic musician Jonsi, member of the band Sigur Rós. That's not all: in addition to about 7 minutes of amusing outtakes and some nice photos from the set, the Blu-ray also features a half-hour documentary about the real Benjamin Mee and the story that inspired Crowe to make the film. Absolutely worth seeing!!

Conclusion: We're Buying a Zoo may not be Cameron Crowe's deepest or best film. But on a very basic level, the warm-hearted story offers pure feel-good cinema that may have a few minor lags here and there, but overall its fine cast, beautiful visuals and atmospheric music make for true bliss. This succeeds the Blu-Ray additionally with the good technical implementation and some excellent extras. For whom entertainment does not necessarily have to mean spectacular action and who likes it a little quieter and just nice and beautiful, which comes to this disc simply not past. Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp