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We Bought a Zoo
We Bought a Zoo Image
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Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 40 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 71 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: We Bought a Zoo, a memoir by Benjamin Mee, tells the true account of how the author and his family used their life savings to buy a dilapidated zoo, replete with 200 exotic animals facing destruction, in the English countryside. Mee, along with his children, had to balance caring for his wife, who was dying of brain cancer, with dealing with escaped tigers, raising endangered animals, working with an eclectic skeleton crew and readying the zoo for a reopening. (20th Century Fox) … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 40
  3. Negative: 3 out of 40
  1. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    Dec 21, 2011
    80
    Damon can elevate just about anything in which he appears.
  2. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Peter Bradshaw
    Mar 16, 2012
    60
    It's a bit sucrose, especially at the beginning, but this traditional, sweet-natured family film will tug on the heartstrings.
  3. Slate
    Reviewed by: Dan Kois
    Dec 22, 2011
    30
    The realities that Crowe creates all seem like pleasant enough places to be, but you'd never mistake them for real life. The fuzzy, squishy world of We Bought a Zoo may be the Cameron Crowe-iest of them all.

See all 40 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 35
  3. Negative: 4 out of 35
  1. SusanH
    9
    My friends & I loved this movie. It made me laugh, jump, sad & happy. It is not a "intellectual " film. It is just a good time. The little girl is adorable. You can feel that Matt Damon's character is someone with heart. No, real life wouldn't be that easy but it's a movie people!… Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. Bikerjames
    5
    Will the zoo survive? Will Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson fall in love? Will the angst ridden teenager get over his mother's loss? Will the little girl be cute beyond belief? You know the answers to all these questions before you even set foot in the theater, but I kept hoping for something original to happen to set it apart from all the other similar family films. It didn't happen. Too saccharin sweet and predictable for my taste. I thought the acting was fine throughout, although a couple of people came across as a caricature (the zoo inspector and the long haired zoo employee who acted like a big muppet).… Expand
    • 1 of 2 users said yes
  3. Steevo77
    3
    Three of us went to this movie yesterday. My wife and adult son liked it, but I did not. I felt the plot and outcome were very predictable in this story. In my opinion the writer overreached to come up with all the "feel good" outcomes possible and crammed them into one movie. So if you want to see a movie where all the people relationships turn out hunky-dorry and all the problems find speedy, nice solutions, go to this one and soak it in. If you prefer something a little more realistic that keeps you guessing, go to any other show that's out there right now and it will be better.… Expand
    • 2 of 3 users said yes

See all 35 User Reviews

Trailers

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