The Story and Its Schmaltz Factor

"Sometimes, reacting to a movie is all about the expectations you bring with you walking into it. 'We Bought a Zoo' is about a family that buys a zoo. It's as high-concept as you can get, outside of maybe 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes' or 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,' and it's equally straightforward in wearing its heart on its sleeve. UGG Kensington BootsWe know to expect this ahead of time because 'We Bought a Zoo' comes from Cameron Crowe, the writer-director of 'Say Anything ...,' 'Jerry Maguire,' 'Almost Famous' and, more recently, the 2005 flop 'Elizabethtown.' We know there will be some poignantly phrased life lessons in store for this family as they struggle to reconnect after the mother's death. The whole exercise could have been agonizingly mawkish, and/or filled with cheap, lazy animal-poop jokes. And yet, it's not. It's actually surprisingly charming and more emotionally understated than the material would suggest. — Christy Lemire, The Associated Press