Now, this film says it is based on the true story of British journalist Benjamin Mee who bought a failing zoo on Dartmoor. I would call it loosely based - or perhaps even just inspired, as further research into the story showed how many differences director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) orchestrated in the movie version.
The real story of course takes place in Devon (South West of England for those who don't know, and one of the rainiest places in Britain) where journalist Mee convinced his Mother to sell his childhood home in Surrey to buy a failing zoo on Dartmoor, along with Mee convincing his wife to sell up and leave their barn conversion in Southern France to move back to rainy old UK. His wife, Katherine, had battled a brain tumour which, less than a year into their move to the zoo came back and she passed away soon after. Mee states that the reason behind the move to the zoo, despite his wife's protests, was that they knew the tumour could come back at any time and if he was to be a single father he wanted a place that was magical for his children to grow up (actually at the end of the article I read his daughter is running along in a red cape beside the wolf enclosure - how much more of a fairytale can you get?).
So the true story is Mee and family along with his Mother and one of his brothers live on Dartmoor and struggle to resurrect a failed zoo. The Crowe version has a bereaved Mee and children move to struggling Rosemoor zoo and work to bring it up to regulation before the summer season begins in decidedly sunny California.
Unfortunately for Cameron Crowe he seems to have a pattern when it comes to film making. Firstly the script must be doused in syrup before being read, a major change (preferably death) has to happen to the main characters, a quirky girl must be the lifeboat for the male hero, and if possible there must be the cutest kid in the world on screen making impossibly adorable comments. Crowe's filmography includes Jerry Maguire (Jonathan Lipnicki the cute-as-a-button child), Elizabethtown (Kirsten Dunst rescues Orlando Bloom), and Almost Famous (probably the least cliched but still pretty saccharine for a rocker movie).
In WBAZ the protagonist is Matt Damon who was an adrenaline junkie journalist and recent single parent to a moody and talented artistic fourteen year old boy, and an adorable seven year old who, much like Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire, is wise beyond her years. Maggie Elizabeth Jones who plays Rosie Mee is so friggin cute, and has been given some corker lines. Actually without her I may have been tempted to give this film two stars rather than three. Though obviously her presence ramps up the sugar content sometimes this is forgiveable, what wasn't was the relationship between Dylan Mee and zoo-helper Lily.
Though Colin Ford (who plays young Sam in Supernatural) does well as the angry teenager who is in torment about the death of his mother, Lily (played by Elle Fanning of Super 8) is fairly off putting as enthusiastic zoo worker who is home schooled and quite obviously hasn't been in much contact with other teenagers. Nothing against Fanning's acting abilities, I'm positive she fulfilled the directors wants and needs for her character, its more I dislike the way Crowe has to have EVERYONE falling in love.
Damon looks older than ever in this movie, which is appropriate given he is meant to be a single father who is putting off grief to try and give his children a magical life sans a mother (and he is 42 now so allowed to look it). Damon and Jones together can be heartbreaking at times, but then Crowe will ruin the moment with sweeping music to entirely put you off. However left well alone is the relationship between Damon and Thomas Haden Church (Sideways). Church is the older brother who is trying to move Damon on from his stagnant phase, providing comic relief with snappy witticisms to cut through the sugar. Church is often given this role as his deadpan delivery means you tend to smile or chuckle even if the line isn't that funny.
As for the zoo employees of course there is 'leading lady' Scarlett Johansson who is the prerequisite love interest for Damon, playing Kelly the zoo-keeper. I like Johansson a lot as an actress and she can often make a bad film mediocre, or a mediocre film worth watching, just by facial expression or line delivery. Unfortunately again Crowe manages to ruin some nice moments between Damon and Johansson with overplay of Sigur Ros and other orchestral music.
Of the rest of the zoo-crew there is a Scotsman called MacCready who has an enemy in the form of zoo inspector Ferris (played as a caricature by John Michael Higgins); Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) is, as far as I could tell, a walking monkey-holder (and the most interesting thing the monkey did was face-palm once), and a plethora of other 'actors' who seemed to just mill around putting posts in and collecting escaped snakes.
The plot follows the renovation of the zoo into a working and profitable park that will support the Mee family for the rest of their lives. It couldn't be more predictable if it tried, and that is a comment I made before realising it was a true story. Crowe seems to have had a checklist of cliches sat beside him whilst making this film and he seems to have fulfilled every single one.
And yet, despite the cliches I still gave this film three stars. That is purely down to Matt Damon's likeability on screen, his relationship with the adorable Maggie Elizabeth Jones, and that none of the acting can really be criticised for being bad. It was never the actors fault that the film was a series of cliches or the characters so exaggerated, they at least seemed to have a lot of fun with their roles.
If I could have picked any other director to handle this story it would have been Danny Boyle. Why? Have you ever seen Millions? It is adorable, it is family centric, and it is above all Eccentric which is what was really missing from WBAZ. The story is weird - who on earth buys a failing zoo? Crowe is missing that eccentricity to his film making to have been able to tackle this film appropriately.
As it is though, it is worth a watch if you happen across it. I would never have gone out of my way to see it, I was lucky to have been lent it by a friend, but that doesn't mean there are others out there who will have found a lot more enjoyment from this film than I did.
It was a British story that needed to be told by Britain not Hollywood. Who on earth believes that California could possibly have a wetter summer than the South West of England?!
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