I’m loathed to write a review for this infantile piece of work, but for the benefit of our 6 year old readers I will do my best to excite. Zookeeper is a goofball of a film starring talking animals and an oversize man-child. The large boy is question is the dufus Kevin James. You probably know him if you eat a lot of junk food. That’s what his screen persona resembles. The film gave me indigestion. He plays the said Zookeeper pining for his WAY-out-of -his-league ex girlfriend, a shallow floozy (played by the leggy beauty that is Leslie Bibb). Realising that to have any chance whatsoever at winning her back, he has to, ….. CHANGE his ways and give up the ZOO.
When the animals get wind (haha) of this development they hatch (can’t help myself) a plan to keep the hapless Romeo from deserting them. And that’s where the fun begins kids. Before too long the Big Man is taken into the confidence of the talking animals and together they transform the lovable dufus into a trained circus bear. Scheming talking animals, that sounds familiar doesn’t it… Well it does… If you’re thinking Animal Farm you’re way off-base.. This is more like Animal House… No wait, that’s not even close either… That would actually be funny… This is more like regular animals in a zoo just talking. And that’s pretty much the story. No wait there is also a Gorilla in solitary confinement, who has shhhh ISSUES he mainly stares at a blank wall.
Voicing this motley crew of conspiratorial wildlife is a veritable roster of has-beens and should-know-betters. We have Rocky Balboa, Cher, Nick Nolte (oh dear), Adam Sandler (c’mon dude you produced this ?), Judd Apatow (no comment) and some other people who will probably not suffer adversely from this paycheck. Ok back to the er… story. The deliciously fit Rosario Dawson is also in it and like Zookeeper Kevin James is also an animal freak together they ultimately discover they are ‘birds of a feather’ ouch.. was that considered a spoiler? Now to mention the real star of this tumultuous mood piece ** drumroll please… T*G*I*F… yes that chain of ‘family’ style restaurant celebrating everything that is the weekend and that litters the length and breath of the shopping mall that is the USA. Making its unabashed debut in a Hollywood film, this restaurant to the masses literally steals the movie with its unprejudiced customer policy, great party atmosphere, and oh so friendly service. It will surely be a contender for a best supporting restaurant gong at next years Academy Awards. Yes, I too was paid for the plug.
In conclusion, I would like to add that this film has outtakes. Be sure to watch them, they actually have a plot.
Zookeeper is out in cinemas 29th July 2011.
Director: Frank Coraci
Writers: Nick Bakay (screenplay), Rock Reuben (screenplay), and 5 more credits »
Stars: Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, Leslie Bibb
Runtime: 102 min
Country: USA
Film Rating: 
Yep, even I rolled my eyes when I saw the trailer for this one. And the sad thing is that I like Kevin James but when he picks movies like this one, Grown Ups and Paul Blart: Mall Cop there is only so much goodwill you can keep giving the guy.