We Bought A Zoo is a fun, cheerful, feel good movies based upon the true story of the Dee's family (recently widowed father with a son and a daughter) who quits his job as an international journalist and buys a dilapidated private zoo on 16 acres. The zoo has been seized by the state and the state has kept on the (very eccentric) staff to maintain the zoo while it looks for a buyer.

Matt Damon plays Benjamin Dees who must deal with a son who has become depressed and emotionally disturbed and is expelled from school. His young daughter is bright happy bubbly and wants to live on a place in the country with rolling hills. The one place the family finds comes with a caveat, a lion, a number of tigers, a grizzly bear and a 200 other animals. The little girl (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) steals the show, helped with a few of the animals. Scarlett Johansson plays the 28 year old zoo keeper has has been working 24/7 to keep the place going. Acting is quite good for a feel good movie that is partly a comedy.

Very worth seeing, will bring a smile to your face, and the animals are great.

BTW I saw The Descendants last week. This is another movie about a recently widowed father (played by George Clooney) with two kids, this time daughters, set in Hawaii. Very good and entertaining but not super memorable.

I'd pick Zoo over Descendants (though I like George Clooney more than Matt Damon) because Zoo is supposedly a true story and I love the animals.