We Bought a Zoo Trailer (2011)

Trailer for We Bought a Zoo.

This holiday season, acclaimed filmmaker Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) directs an amazing and true story about a single dad who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. With the help of an eclectic staff, and with many misadventures along the way, the family works to return the dilapidated zoo to its former wonder and glory.

We Bought a Zoo is loosely based on the real-life story of Benjamin Mee, who bought a Zoo in Dartmoor, England. He, and his children, make an appearance in the movie as the first family that climb over the tree blocking the road to the zoo.

In the trailer above, Rosie tells her dad (Matt Damon) that he's better than the other daddies as he has hair. In real-life, Benjamin Mee doesn't have hair.

Ben Stiller, Tom Cruise, and Leonardo Di Caprio were all considered for the role of Benjamin Mee.

When Benjamin Mee first meets the zoo keeping staff, it is mentioned that there's a weak fence between the jaguars and the tigers. In the real Dartmoor zoo, the jaguar did indeed escape into the tiger enclosure.

We Bought a Zoo is a sweetly charming film based on a real-life story that will warm even the coldest of hearts. Benjamin Mee, along with his wife and mother, decided to buy a zoo in Dartmoor, a very rural part of England. None of them had any prior experience of running a zoo but they have since turned the zoo around and it is now a thriving enterprise. Not long after purchasing the zoo, Benjamin Mee's wife died, leaving him to raise their two children.

This movie has changed the story somewhat, the biggest change being that the film is set in California. Also, Benjamin Mee, played here by Matt Damon, is widowed from the start of the movie, well before he buys the zoo, and his kids are older. Despite all the changes (which were approved by the real Benjamin Mee), We Bought a Zoo hasn't lost the heart of its story at all.

It's fair to say that this trailer doesn't exactly set the world alight, and it seems as though the movie will be fairly predictable, but that doesn't mean it's not charming and lovely to watch all the same. Scarlett Johansson often takes more edgy roles and Matt Damon can usually be found in big blockbusters, so it makes a nice change to see them playing in a more sedentary movie.