Zookeeper
Rating: 4/10
Cast:
Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, Leslie Bibb, An array
of vocal talents for talking animals
Director: Frank Coraci
Kevin James continues to mine his everyman shtick in this latest, a
comedy about a zookeeper.
James is Griffin, who, at the start of the film has his proposal
rejected by Leslie Bibb's Stephanie (the love of his life).
Cue five years later, Griffin's now head zookeeper and relatively
content with his lot in life. Until at his brother's engagement do
(at the zoo, naturally) his ex shows up and Griffin realises what
he may have lost.
So determined to better himself, Griffin decides it's time to leave
the zoo - and take a high earning job elsewhere to ensure he's not
seen as a failure.
And that's the moment, the animals plot to keep him - and break
their code of silence to reveal to him, and he alone, that they can
talk&.
What to say about Zookeeper?
If you like pratfalls, talking animals, a creepy Asian zookeeper
(step forward Ken Jeong), flat set pieces which lack fizz and
sparkle, occasional laugh out loud moments and an array of stars
(Stallone, Cher to name but two) talking as animals, then stop
reading right here and pre-book your ticket for Zookeeper.
Granted the younger end of the audience is likely to enjoy this and
there's a nice message about staying true to yourself and believing
in yourself, but Zookeeper is pretty much your standard middle of
the road fare.
James trades well on his everyman role once again but this time
around, there's little for him to work with here - there's
certainly no sophistication on display in the script but some of
the younger end of the audience will love it in places
(particularly the whole friendship he has with a gorilla, and a
talking monkey too).
At the end of the day, if you want to see Kevin James being given
advice on getting women from a group of animated animals who're
prone to putting him in a succession of embarrassing situations,
believe the kids will have a good time and you're prepared to leave
your brain at the door, then Zookeeper is the one for your hard
earned cash.
