Blu-ray, DVD Release: We Bought a Zoo

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 3, 2012
Price: DVD $19.99, Blu-ray $24.99
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Matt Damon (Contagion) gets friendly with animals — the exotic kind — in filmmaker Cameron Crowe’s (Almost Famous) We Bought a Zoo.

Based on the memoir by Benjamin Mee, the family movie stars Damon as Mee, a Los Angeles newspaper columnist and adventure writer. When he tries to get a new start for his family, Mee buys an old rural house outside the city that just happens to come with a zoo. With no experience, little time and a tiny budget, Mee sets out to reopen the zoo with the help of his children and head zookeeper Kelly Foster (Scarlet Johansson, Iron Man 2).

The film also stars Thomas Haden Church (Easy A), Elle Fanning (Super 8), Angus Macfadyen (Equilibrium), Patrick Fugit (Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant) and a cameo with Mee himself.

As well as directing, Crowe co-wrote We Bought a Zoo with screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (I Don’t Know How She Does It).

Rated PG, the movie grossed a tidy $73 million in theaters, but it was enjoyed much more by audiences than critics. Detroit News‘ Tom Long described it as “filled with artificial sweetener,” and Newsday‘s Rafer Guzman said it “lacks the emotional honesty and unpredictability that made Crowe’s early films so irresistible.”

But come critics liked it. Renowned movie reviewer Leonard Maltin called the movie “a welcome cup of holiday cheer.”

On Blu-ray and DVD, We Bought a Zoo comes with an English Family Friendly Audio Track that earned the Dove Seal of Approval. Here are the special features on the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack:

• gag reel
• featurette “The Real Me”
• featurette “We Shot a Zoo”
• featurette “Their Happy Is Too Loud”
• commentary with Crowe, actor J.B. Smoove and editor Mark Livolsi
• a whopping 20 deleted scenes
• and a downloadable digital copy of the movie.

Buy or Rent We Bought a Zoo
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