ZOOKEEPER: A film review

On the exact day of my birthday, I stayed at home (still @ BP) not just because I was too tired with all the biyahe we made yesterday (to Tagaytay) but because I had zero balance already so no money and energy left to cook any more food. Well, I told them that yesterday was already my birthday celebration so they should not expect anything more. Instead, I just slept all day and watched movies on my Tab, including this one that I am reviewing today.

Zookeeper is a good film that was shown in 2011 and it tells the story of Griffin Keyes (played by Kevin James) who makes a move to propose to the love of his life, Stephanie, but she turns him down saying that the fact he was a zookeeper is not really good enough for her. The next scene shows Griffin five years later, he is now the lead zookeeper at the Franklin Park Zoo. Griffin held a party at the zoo for his brother Dave who is getting married. He was surprised to know that Stephanie was invited. Dave offers Griffin to come and work with him at the car dealership, since he says it is the best way to win back Stephanie. Griffin starts thinking of quitting his job at the zoo and joining his brother.

And so, the animals hold a meeting since they don’t want Griffin to leave knowing he is the best zookeeper they ever had. They decide to help him win Stephanie's heart. Some of them want to teach Griffin some mating tricks but the lion (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) protests, reminding them that it's against the animal code to talk to humans. The monkey (voiced by Adam Sandler) says that Stephanie will be at the zoo tomorrow so all they need is to make Griffin look like a hero in front of her.

They planned to unlock the door to the lion enclosure and let Joe, the lion, out to confront Stephanie and Dave's fiancee Robin. But it was Kate, the zoo vet, who saved them from the lion, as Griffin didn’t jump into the lion enclosure, thus ruining the animals' plan. So, the animals decide to break their code of silence and talk to Griffin.

Griffin at first was surprised and then became glad that the animals love him so much and want to help him. Once, taking advantage of his now newfound closeness and ability to talk with the animals, he visits Bernie, a gorilla banished to his cave after allegedly attacking Shane, another zookeeper. Bernie explains to Griffin that Shane abuses the animals and once while abusing Bernie, he fell. He lied and said that Bernie attacked him, causing Bernie to lose his trust in anyone.

Griffin gets a tip from Joe’s wife and decides to be seen with another female to make Stephanie jealous. So Griffin asks Kate to go on a date with him at Dave and Robin's wedding where Stephanie goes with another ex-boyfriend, Dale. Griffin and Kate have a great time together. Griffin even starts to stand up to Gale and this grabs Stephanie's attention. But when it was time for them to leave and Kate was telling Griffin she had a great time with him, Stephanie comes in to ask Griffin out to dinner. Griffin accepts and they both go to dinner and then to a fashion show.

Stephanie tells Griffin that his job at the zoo is holding him from the outside world, so Griffin decides to quit and accept Dave's offer, making Kate and all the other animals in the zoo upset. This includes Bernie, the gorilla whom he has started to befriend and regain his trust. Kate decides to leave the zoo and go work at a zoo in Nairobi.

Griffin becomes the best employee at the car dealership, but misses working at the zoo. Stephanie proposes to Griffin, but Griffin refuses and dumps her. He then goes back to the zoo and apologizes to Bernie, who accepts Griffin's friendship. The animals then tell Griffin that Kate is heading to the airport. With the help of Bernie, Griffin manages to catch up with Kate and confesses his love for her. Six months later, Griffin and Kate are back working at the zoo and Bernie is now living in a new enclosure where he gets a great view of the city.

The movie has its funny moments and can be considered a slapstick of sorts with most of the actors involved in ‘clumsy stunts’ that intend to make the audience laugh, especially the kids. But considering that the plot is mostly about dating and involves some double-edged jokes, I am not sure though if the kids would be fully engaged in this movie. Well, I guess that explains why my daughter stopped watching it after just a few minutes. I still love the effects though – of the animals talking and the voices used such a stellar line-up – with Stallone, Cher, Adam Sandler, Nick Nolte, among others. It was good for a few laughs and to keep my mind off anything else for a few hours.

[photo grabbed from IMDB]