UK Release Date: 16th March 2012

Based on a true story, We Bought a Zoo is the tale of Benjamin Mee; a recently widowed father struggling to cope with looking after his two children by himself. Benjamin moves his young family to the countryside when he buys a large house with a zoo at the back. There, Benjamin meets Kelly and with her help him and his family attempt to renovate the zoo and reopen it to the public.

Now, apparently, the main rules of show business are never work with animals or children. This is something that Matt Damon clearly didn’t acknowledge as he takes on the role of Benjamin Mee and, in the trailer at least, it looks as though he was right to do so as it seems as though his performance will be a highlight of the film. The supporting cast looks very strong too including Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church and Elle Fanning.

We Bought a Zoo is predominantly a drama although it does contain elements of comedy which come through in the trailer which is funnier than a lot of trailers for so called comedies that I have seen in the past. You can tell that there is a complete story arc to the film and that the characters do develop which is always a good thing. Before the Oscar nominations were announced there was a lot of buzz around this film receiving a few nominations which it didn’t end up getting, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t be worth a watch.