Title:   We Bought A Zoo

Writer:  (Screenplay): Aline Brosh McKenna and Cameron Crowe

(Book): Benjamin Mee

Director:  Cameron Crowe

Year:  2011

Actors:  Matt Damon (Benjamin Mee);  Scarlett Johansson (Kelly Foster); Thomas Haden Church (Duncan Mee); Colin Ford (Dylan Mee); Maggie Jones (Rosie Mee)

Story:   "We Bought a Zoo"  is a movie based on true events.  The location for the movie is based out of California, however in reality the family lives in England.  A young widow decides to start over fresh with his 2 children, and bought a house that was on the grounds of a zoo.   With absolutely no experience for running a zoo, or with animals in general, and a daughter that is tickled pink at the idea and a son that is not happy with the idea, Benjamin Mee decides this is what's best for his family, a new adventure.  The zoo was in desperate need for renovations too. In reality, the zoo was bought before the mother passed away, sadly however, she passed away before the grand re-opening of the zoo.

Plot:  Benjamin Mee is recently a widowed, single father of two children.  He is a journalist that is struggling and eventually quits his job without a hesitation.  Everywhere Benjamin looks, reminds him of his deceased wife.  She passed away losing to a long battle with cancer.  Benjamin's daughter, Rosie, needs to be told each night before going to sleep, stories of her mom, so she feels mom is still close to her.  This is hard for Benjamin, as he misses his wife terribly.  He is seen watching old videos of the family together.  He does this quite often throughout the movie.  Dylan is struggling in his own way, and not in a good way.  He is getting in trouble in school, to the point he was expelled.  It was then that Benjamin realized a fresh start is what they all need.  With that, he sets out to find a new place to live.  He looks at numerous houses, and none that suited him or Rosie.  Until they finally saw one, but the real estate agent pointed out this would not be a good house.  However, Benjamin ignored him, since he was in complete awe by the style of the house, he knew right then, this would be their new house.     Then while looking at the inside of the house, they hear a lion roar, yes a lion.  That's when Benjamin finally listens to the real estate agent, "sir, this house comes with a zoo".   Rosie was excited!    Needless to say, Benjamin bought it.   His brother Duncan tried to talk him out of it, but Benjamin always loved new adventures, and believed this would be best for his family.

Once moved into the house, Benjamin met the people that have been taking care of the zoo, with their own personal money.  The leader of that group was a woman named Kelly Foster.  She walked through the entire zoo showing and explaining everything to Benjamin Mee.  She explained how much would be need to save this zoo. Benjamin Mee was quite taken back by all the information, but he pulled it together and said, he'll make it work.  Kelly then looked at Benjamin and asks "Why are you doing this, buying a zoo?"  He responds "Why not?" As months go by, money gets tighter and tighter.  Dylan isn't to happy about not being with his old friends, and Rosie is having a blast.  And in the midst of all this, Benjamin is still reminded of his wife, everywhere he looks.  He realizes then that no matter where he lives, there will always be reminders.    Dylan starts to get close with Lily, Kelly's niece, that is homeschooled at the zoo.  Benjamin finds out his wife and a little nest egg for him, knowing that one day for one of his crazy adventures, he'd need some back up cash.  And with that extra bit, all works out, and they are finally able to get licensed to reopen the zoo.   The week before the zoo was scheduled to open, it rained all week.  But on opening day, after realizing a tree crashed in the walk way to enter, there were lines of people waiting to get in.

Then end of the movie showed Benjamin taking his kids back to the restaurant where he first met his future wife, their mom.   He saw her in a window, and decided he had 20 seconds of insane courage, 20 seconds of complete bravery, (which he had told Dylan earlier, that this kind of insane courage will turn into something great) and he went right up to this woman in the restaurant, and said "Why would an amazing woman like you even talk to someone like me?"  and she responded "Why not?"

I believe that the movie is  both chronological and non-linearly.  The movie itself, the move, fixing the zoo, etc, are in chronological order, however the flashbacks that involve the mom and the ending where he talks about where it all began, takes us back in time, therefore non-linearly.

How are the elements like character development or foreshadowing impacted by the choice of storytelling methods?   The characters in this movie really bring out the trueness of how a death can really be painful to deal with.  Parents can really relate to the dad, struggling with the loss of his wife, and raising kids on his own.  Starting over can be a struggle for anyone, and deciding what's best for you family all in all is always a tough decision.

If the film had followed a different presentation style, how would the general effect on the audience have been different?   If this film followed a different presentation style, I think the audience would have been bored  with the movie.  This led up to a fantastic ending that for most, made people shed some tears.  Its a heartwarming, feel good movie, that we all need once in a while.

Resources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389137/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9108388/We-Bought-a-Zoo-the-true-story-behind-the-film.html