"Zookeeper" is another comedic offering from Happy Madison, the production company owned by comedy actor Adam Sandler. It's directed by Frank Coraci, a man whose past credits include "The Wedding Singer" and "Click," both of which star Sandler. And “Zookeeper” also stars Sandler, though the man himself makes an appearance only as a Capuchin Monkey (I should point out he provides the voice and not the body).
In the leading role is Kevin James (also serving as a writer and producer), an actor who is certainly familiar with Happy Madison's name, having starred in some of their previous efforts such as "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and last year's "Grown Ups." Here, he's playing (drum roll please) a zookeeper in Coraci's family-friendly comedy, turning on his typically natural on-screen charm to make the experience that is "Zookeeper" a bearable one, if only slightly.
His character is Griffin Keyes, a socially uncomfortable goof who has been working at the Franklin Park Zoo for eight years now. In the opening scene, set five years ago, it is shown that he is a full-blown romantic, riding a horse on the beach with his beautiful girlfriend Stephanie (Leslie Bibb, "Law Abiding Citizen") and proposing to her using a message in a bottle. Unfortunately, she says no due to her dislike of his job, though the love-shaped fireworks he previously planned crackle away in the sky, and the mariachi band he organised still serenades them as they awkwardly ride off together.
Five years later, and a single Griffin sets eyes on Stephanie during his brother’s engagement party (which is held at the zoo), though it turns out she's still troubled with his job choice (she's an ignorant bitch, to sum her character up). Griffin then talks to himself as she walks away, telling himself that he must leave his job if she is to accept him. However, the surrounding animals overhear him, and hatch up a plan.
Much to his surprise, the animals of the zoo start talking to Griffin (all with different accents, of course), and decide to help him win Stephanie over. Soon enough, Griffin is pissing on trees and growling like a bear, as the animals train him in the art of courtship; fellow zookeeper Kate (Rosario Dawson, "Unstoppable") also aids him in his desperate attempts, though she is unaware of the animals' advanced communication skills.
I found it very difficult to loathe "Zookeeper" against my better judgement, though I try my hardest not to hate the films I watch. The reason I found this difficult to loathe was because there is annoyingly a sweetness to the film that's not necessarily innocent, but simply sweet. I'm not sure whether it comes from the relationship between Griffin and Kate, or the warmth of James' leading performance (his character is shown to be a genuinely nice person without the film ramming this down our throats), but "Zookeeper" is a sweet movie.
The film will prove successful with children, I would assume, in spite of its apparent attempts at pleasing adults as well (there's some crude humour in there). Kiddies will surely be amused by the talking animals (which include a lion voiced by Sylvester Stallone and an elephant voiced by Judd Apatow), as well as James' near-constant prat-falls, two aspects which take up the vast majority of the runtime.
And its with these two aspects that the film's downfall rears its head. You see, the comedy of "Zookeeper" is too easy and cheap, it consisting quite a bit too much of James screaming and shouting and falling on his arse. There’s an extreme shortage of laughs to be had, the film managing to garner only a single chuckle out of me (and I should add that I can’t even remember at which point this was). As for the talking animals, they're as unconvincing as they always have been in live-action features, looking less like they're talking and more like they're munching away on some delicious treats (and the CGI used for some of their lip-moving does little to help).
"Zookeeper" also falters from the fact that its plot revolves around something that most viewers will care next to nothing about: the romance between Griffin and Stephanie. It's made very clear in the opening scene that Stephanie is a character not to like or root for, so why the film spends such an extended period of time showing Griffin's attempts to be with her has left me baffled. And we all know the identity of the real person Griffin is destined to be with as soon as they light up the screen with their charming personality and glamorous looks (hint: it's not the lowland gorilla voiced by Nick Nolte).
Personally, I would have liked for the film to have delved more into the connection between humans and animals, revealing how we are not so different after all. But alas, "Zookeeper" takes no risks, instead going for second-rate visual gags, an uninteresting central love story and very in-your-face product placement (the TGI Friday‘s advertising is out of control). The only real risk the film takes is breaking the age-old rule of not working with animals.
4/10
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