We Bought a Zoo
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: December 23, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
18
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 21, 2011
Damon can elevate just about anything in which he appears. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickDec 23, 2011
Genuinely charming, treacle-free family films are tough to find these days, so I'm happy to heartily recommend We Bought a Zoo as heartwarming holiday fare that even jaded adults can share with the kids. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonDec 23, 2011
As a man committed to reinventing himself, Damon is terrific. And Johansson brings to Kelly just the right blend of spunkiness and hard-won maturity. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliDec 22, 2011
The film is sweet. Its observations of life in the aftermath of death ring true, especially for anyone who's traveled the contours of mourning. And although it doesn't rank among Crowe's greatest films, it's a better, tighter, more disarming piece of grief work than his baggy and zigzaggy "Elizabethtown." Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 22, 2011
Provides a welcome seasonal dash of wholesomeness and humor. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 22, 2011
Scarlett Johansson plays the head zookeeper and she's a lot less mannered than usual. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 22, 2011
Damon is extraordinary. He's heartfelt performance has a tough core of intelligence and wit. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 21, 2011
Heartfelt but safe. The missing element is the edgy irrelevance that elevated Crowe's best directorial efforts - "Say Anything," "Jerry Maguire," and "Almost Famous" - above their generic counterparts. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedDec 20, 2011
We Bought a Zoo has more soul than substance, but I'll be darned if it didn't put a smile on my face and keep it there. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanDec 15, 2011
The movie is like Doctor Dolittle remade as a therapeutic sudser. By the end, it got to me. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid DenbyJan 9, 2012
Nothing that happens in this movie is in the least surprising, but it's all quite pleasant and even, at times, moving. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 26, 2011
Cameron Crowe is a romantic bordering on utopian, and his authentic family values - biological and surrogate - shine through in his enchanting We Bought a Zoo. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesDec 22, 2011
The movie is quite enjoyable, though, redeemed by Crowe's trademark sincerity and assured handling of oddball character actors. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyNov 27, 2011
Arguably the director's least typical film, it doesn't dodge the potholes of earnest sentimentality and at times overplays the whimsy. But the uplifting tale has heart, humanity and a warmly empathetic central performance from Matt Damon. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezDec 26, 2011
We Bought a Zoo is the most formulaic movie Cameron Crowe has ever made: It is so generic, you could review it with a flow chart. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenDec 23, 2011
Director Cameron Crowe who, not having made a dramatic feature since his 2005 stinker "Elizabethtown," seems bound and determined to crank out a crowd-pleaser here. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 23, 2011
We Bought a Zoo doesn't seem to know what kind of animal it is. Is it a family melodrama, a love story, a wacky comedy, a drama about coping with grief, a feel-good film about following your dreams, or, as ads seem to indicate, a gift-wrapped animal adventure? Not surprisingly, this menagerie of genres doesn't mesh. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyDec 22, 2011
Often I couldn't see the character for the metaphors. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 22, 2011
Pap, but easygoing pap with a cast you can live with for a couple of hours. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertDec 21, 2011
The result is too much formula and not enough human interest. Read full review
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