We Bought a Zoo (2011)

  Don't be fooled by the cute picture of the adorable little girl and smiling actors, this movie is gross.  It's based on a memoir and I would like to point out that I am not basing this review on the book (which I haven't read) or making any disparagement towards the author himself (whom I've never met or even heard of outside of this film) and how he processes his grief.  This is purely a review of the movie adaptation.

With that disclaimer, let's move on.  This movie is so gross.

Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is still reeling from the death of his wife/soulmate (Stephanie Szostak) and can barely function, let alone take care of his two kids.  So he decides to quit his job as an "adventure" reporter and buy a rundown private zoo, against the advice of pretty much everyone but mostly his brother (Thomas Haden Church).  The zoo comes with a motley crew of workers, led by Kelly (Scarlett Johansson), who are very unsure of this new owner with zero experience.  Benjamin throws himself into the restoration of the zoo, pouring money like a never-ending stream, so he can distract himself from ever facing his emotional wounds or those of his 14-year-old son (Colin Ford).  Of course everything comes to a head when Kelly confronts him over the end of life preparations for the zoo's 17-year-old tiger.

This is billed as a cute family film and maybe you'd find it so but I was disgusted by pretty much everything in it.  From the blatant neglect of the children to the bald metaphor of putting down an animal as an analogue to losing a human to disease to the sheer vastness of the privilege on display, every "lesson" the movie tried to impart I violently reject.

AGAIN, I would like to point out that I am only talking about the on-screen portrayal, not the ACTUAL Benjamin Mee.  Movie Benjamin can only see his own grief, not his children's.  Even when his son acts out enough to get expelled from school, Movie Benjamin never recognizes it as a cry for help, only another thing he has to deal with.  He clearly prioritizes his seven-year-old daughter (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) because she is still innocent and not as obviously traumatized as the older one, again focusing on how it makes HIM feel instead of putting their needs first.

After his major confrontation where he completely rejects putting down the tiger because it reminds him too much of his wife's last days, he takes off "to think" and leaves his kids with no supervision (on a zoo with access to dozens of animals that could seriously hurt them) and no food for hours.  If Kelly had not taken charge, those kids would not have eaten.  In the movie, it's played as though Kelly is just being nurturing and kind (setting her up as the surrogate mother figure) and ignoring the fact that she is an employee of Benjamin Mee.  It is not her job to run his house but she knows that if he leaves, the zoo will be closed and all the animals will be transferred away from her.  This is the kind of emotional blackmail women deal with that men don't see.

Also, the number of times this man fails upward is astonishing.  How is he even able to afford a zoo when he just quit his job and had a spouse die of some lingering disease (which costs a fucking fortune)?  Oh, because he starts out rich.  The brother mentions that Benjamin is using the inheritance he got from their father to prop up this zoo and then **minor spoiler but don't see this movie anyway** he finds a secret fund set up by his wife while she was dying that magically contains just enough to money to bail him out after he recklessly blows through his original money.

This is a man who has never learned to put other people's needs before his own because he has never had to in his life.  He has been surrounded by women who took care of him and everything else so that he'd never have to spend even a minute thinking about it.  It's gross.  There are other examples in the film (like how the son just waits every day for Elle Fanning's character to bring him a sandwich) but I've already written way more words about this stupid movie than it deserves.  Do NOT watch this movie.