“Had a bit of an adventure getting to the last flick of 2011. Mom was dragging her butt today and had one errand she needed to run. She finally runs off at 2:30. My planned movie (which was supposta give her a chance to grab dinner with friends that didnt end up happening, so I feel a lil bad about it) started at 3:45 at the theatre with the nicer seats. 3:30 I get a text that she’s on her way. 3:45 she pulls into the drive and drops the keys under the seat. I contemplate going to the mall theater’s 4:05, but I figure nicer seats are worth missing previews I’ve likely seen or will soon see elsewhere. I race like mad, even driving 10 MPH above the limit (I usually sit comfortably at 5), grab my ticket, run into the auditorium and find all the lights are still on. Odd. I look around. There’s lots of lil kids with their parents. That seems about right, it is a family movie afterall. I parade back across the auditorium and exit to check that I did in fact enter the correct room. Yeah. Okay, back to my seat. Maybe it’s some post-Festivus miracle and they just happened to start late. Nope. A couple minutes later, an usher walks in and says this showing is cancelled. The next one is in the 7:00 hour. We’re given the option of staying for somethign else or getting a refund. Well, I’ve seen everything else playing here that I’m interested in (the idea of a repeat MI:4 didnt strike me until later). What the hell. I’ve got 5 min. I resigned myself to missing previews anyways. I run to the box office, or actually, first I run back to the bathroom where I’d dropped my ticket stub on the way in and didnt bothered to pick it up, acquire ticket stub, get refund, and race across town to the mall. Arrive 10 minutes late, but I still see some faint light as I walk in. I almost panic that they too have cancelled their mid afternoon showing. But then I see a familiar shade of green on the screen and all is well.
My primary reason for wanting to see We Bought a Zoo is Cameron “”Almost Famous”” Crowe. He’s kinda on my secondary list of must see directors. I suppose that means I wont drop everything or go far outta my way to see his stuff, but I do try to make some effort. Again, Almost Famous (and Vanilla Sky…yes, I do mean that). I thought Zoo was cute and sweet, definitely an improvement over this summer’s other zoo movie.
The heart and soul anchor of We Bought a Zoo was easily Matt Damon. I love how no matter how big and powerful of an actor he becomes, he still retains his everyman quality. You see him on screen and you dont see Matt Damon. You see whatever character he’s supposta be, no matter how big or small. Here, he was a loving but in over his head single father, and you got all of it. I think it was his sincerity that stopped this from becoming an over the top sap fest like it easily could have been.
I’m kidna at a loss for what else to say about this movie. If you like your family holiday fare to be more sacharine (sp?) then this is your best option this season.
We Bought a Zoo – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n