We Bought A Zoo

Spanks - 5

Director - Cameron Crowe

Writers - Aline Brosh McKenna and Cameron Crowe

Starring - Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford and Maggie Elizabeth Jones

Release Date - 23 December 2011

MPAA Rating - PG

We Bought A Zoo is very loosely based on the book of the same name by the owner of the Dartmoor Zoological Park in England Benjamin Mee. Mee bought the struggling zoo with his entire family in 2006. The film takes place in Southern California and the Benjamin Mee played by Matt Damon quits his job a few months after his wife dies and wants to move to start over. He finds the perfect house that he wants to buy, but then is told that the property is a zoo that is being run by the state. Mee is a writer and has no idea how to work with animals and run the zoo.

The movie follows a lot of the traditional Hollywood formula, but it is done well. A good part of the movie is the struggle between Benjamin and his son who wanted to say with his friends in the city. The film is more about the family while the book is about the animals and the zoo.

We Built A Zoo is a good movie to take the whole family. It has some good laughs and it has some heartfelt moments scattered throughout also. It is a holiday movie worth seeing.

The Muppets

Spanks - 4

Director - James Bobin

Writers - Jason Segel & Nicholas Stoller

Starring - Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Kermit and the rest of the Muppets

Release Date - 23 November 2011

MPAA Rating - PG

The Muppets are back! It is their first big screen appearance since Muppets From Space in 1999. In the new movie, The Muppets have all moved on with their lives and Muppet Studios is falling apart. Muppet fans Gary and Walter are on a trip to Los Angeles and while on the studio tour Walter overhears oil tycoon Tex Richman trying to buy the land out from under The Muppets because of the oil located underneath. Walter tells Gary what he heard and they find Kermit to tell him and try to convince him to get the gang together to save the studio.

The film is surprising not a reboot of the series (a thing Hollywood does more and more of now). The writers did a good job of trying to update The Muppets while keeping the feel of the old movies and show when Jim Henson was in charge. It could have used more of the old style of Muppet Jokes.

If you enjoyed The Muppets when you were younger, you will continue to enjoy them with this movie.



Bonus video from a few years ago because it is awesome!

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

Spanks - 4

Director - Todd Strauss-Schulson

Writers - Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg

Starring - John Cho, Kal Penn, Thomas Lennon, Amir Blumenfeld, and Neil Patrick Harris

Release Date - 4 November 2011

MPAA Rating - R


A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is the best adult Christmas movie ever made (editors note: as far as I know it is the only adult Christmas movie). The film follows the format of the previous Harold & Kumar movies with the heroes on another adventure. This time, they are not looking for a fast food restaurant or clearing their names as terrorist, the duo are in search of the perfect Christmas tree to replace the one that they caught on fire and are being chased by the Russian mob.

The same hijinks occurs with this adventure. They smoke weed, make weed jokes, make dirty jokes with the only difference is the 3D aspect. They make jokes about the 3D and use it way more then necessary at times I think to make fun of the unnecessary use of 3D in Hollywood post Avatar.

Neil Patrick Harris continues to spoof himself as the woman loving drug addict that he played before. His few scenes are one of the funniest parts of the film. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is a hysterical movie that is just simple fun and I hope everyone sticks around for at least one more adventure.