Movie · 2011 · Drama, Comedy, Family · 2h 4m · PG · English
Curator score: 3.2/10 (321.9K ratings)
A true zoo story.
Overview
Benjamin has lost his wife and, in a bid to start his life over, purchases a large house that has a zoo – welcome news for his daughter, but his son is not happy about it. The zoo is in need of renovation and Benjamin sets about the work with the head keeper and the rest of the staff, but, the zoo soon runs into financial trouble.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.2/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.23/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
Metacritic: 58
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Cameron Crowe
Production
Dune Entertainment, Estrella Media, Vinyl Films, 20th Century Fox
Cast
Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Elle Fanning, Patrick Fugit, John Michael Higgins, Carla Gallo, JB Smoove, Stephanie Szostak, Michael Panes, Kym Whitley, Todd Stanton, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, Peter Riegert, Roberto Montesinos, Desi Lydic, Erick Chavarria
Where to watch
Disney Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A sincere, gently funny grief-and-healing drama with crowd-pleasing warmth, but it’s also very predictable and often leans hard into sentiment. If you’re in the mood for an earnest comfort movie, it works; if you want sharper writing or emotional complexity, it may feel too polished.
Best for
fans of uplifting family dramas
viewers who like sentimental comfort movies
people open to a feel-good Cameron Crowe tone
audiences wanting an easygoing tearjerker
Skip if
you dislike schmaltz or predictability
you want a more realistic grief story
you prefer sharper comedy or less polished sentiment
you’re looking for a truly surprising narrative
Overview
We Bought a Zoo is exactly the kind of movie that knows what it is: a soft, earnest, emotionally accessible story about rebuilding a life after loss. Cameron Crowe gives it a warm, open-hearted glow, and Matt Damon commits fully to the role’s awkward sincerity, which helps the film stay likable even when the script is telegraphing every beat.
Worth noting
The movie’s biggest strength is its comfort factor. It has the feel of a family-friendly hug, with enough animal-caretaker charm and lightly comic chaos to keep the grief story from becoming too heavy. The performances, especially from the supporting ensemble, give it a lived-in sweetness.
Bottom line
But it is also very obviously engineered to make you feel good, and that can limit its impact. The emotional turns are broad, the symbolism is blunt, and the whole thing can feel a little too neat. Still, for the right viewer, that sincerity is the point, and it’s hard to resent a movie this committed to kindness.
Top Letterboxd reviews
sydney (3.5★) · 2100 likes
in one scene matt damon is telling his small daughter to reach out and grab her dead mother's spirit to put it in her heart, two minutes later his emo son gets really angry and screams "WHATEVER DAD!!!" and dropkicks a snake across the front yard and runs away
roberta (2.5★) · 1869 likes
they bought a zoo
James (Schaffrillas) (2.5★) · 1727 likes
My 900th log! I knew I had to do something special for it, which is why I watched peak cinema
Extremely predictable and basic, but also kind of impossible to hate? Like, gosh darn it, Matt Damon is so earnest about buying that fucking zoo that you gotta respect him for it. Glad I was able to find enjoyment in something this schmaltzy considering how the Ted Lasso finale made me want to gouge my eyes out
George Clark (5★) · 1219 likes
There's a fundamental reason why I love this film. It's not because its some unrecognised masterpiece that deserves every award it can get, it really doesn't, but it's because of how personally connected I feel to ever single second of it. I've ran from calling this my favourite film for a long time. I've called it my favourite "comfort" film before and I've called it my favourite "childhood" film. But it's not. It's more than that to me and having… more There's a fundamental reason why I love this film. It's not because its some unrecognised masterpiece that deserves every award it can get, it really doesn't, but it's because of how personally connected I feel to ever single second of it. I've ran from calling this my favourite film for a long time. I've called it my favourite "comfort" film before and I've called it my favourite "childhood" film. But it's not. It's more than that to me and having… more