Let me start out by saying that I am a secret fan of Kevin James. I liked him in King of Queens on TV, in his movie roles such as Hitch, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown-ups, The Dilemma and so on. I’m not saying these titles are fantastic, but I didn’t feel like my skin was being peeled off either. I don’t mean to say James is a master thespian by any means, just a regular guy, an anti-Hollywood type, if you get my meaning. He’s not the first person you think of for leading man roles, etc…, but I like him anyways. Maybe it’s because I can relate to him in his appearance (some say we look like brothers! – ha!), or his character’s shyness covered by his loud comedic joking, or just that he’s everyman… whatever… but in the movie ZOOKEEPER even I am having a hard time with Mr. James. Let me explain…
This movie is rated PG, which is fine for family fare, and is distributed by Columbia/Tri-Star. It’s about 95 minutes long, which ended up being about 90 minutes too long for me. Yep, this Kevin James fan lost 90 minutes of his life which will never come back.
The basic premise of ZOOKEEPER is that Kevin James is a zookeeper in a Massachusetts zoo, and apparently loves his job. He’s also a hopeless romantic, who gets dumped on the very day he asks for his favorite girl’s hand in marriage. Rosario Dawson plays James’ co-worker, and there is obvious playfulness and admiration between them. SPOILER ALERT!! Uh, love is obviously right under his nose, and he’s too blind to see it. Anyway, Griffin (James’ character) comes to find out that all the zoo animals can and do talk, just like humans! Huh? What? How? Why? Apparently these questions are unimportant, as they are never addressed. We, like Griffin, are just supposed to go along with it.
The animals find out about Griffin’s plight, and because they really like him, they decide to help him along in the ways of love, as only the animal kingdom can. There are a FEW funny moments and scenes that you and the kids may chuckle over, but this movie is not 90 minutes of solid fun by any means. I mean, Adam Sandler, Nick Nolte, Sly Stallone, Cher, Don Rickles, and many others provide the voices for the animals, but what a waste of talent.
Kevin James had a hand in the writing and producing of this movie, as did Adam Sandler, but again, talents wasted this time around. There’s nothing really offensive or harmful here, just wasteful and innocuous.
Take the kids to a real zoo, and enjoy the real animal kingdom.
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