Film Reviews

The Zookeeper

• Rating:
• Director: Frank Coraci
• Starring: Adam Sandler
• Details: US/TBC TBC

One of these days, comedic actor Kevin James may get the opportunity to show what he's made of. He's opened movies in America with his name over the title alone, and is quickly catching up on his mate Adam Sandler (who produces here) in terms of audience attraction. But even for a flick aimed squarely at the youngsters, The Zookeeper is tough going.
James is sweet natured zookeeper at Boston Zoo, Griffin Keyes, who the animals all love. We know the animals love him because they can speak and they tell him. They're not just spouting gibberish though, oh no, they're advising Griffin on his love life and a possible romance with the lovely Stephanie (the gorgeous Leslie Bibb) and work pal Kate (Rosario Dawson, being adorable as usual). A hurdle in his quest for Stephanie appears in the form of her cocky ex-boyfriend (comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan... The best thing about the movie), and he must battle him to become the object of her affections.
Full of the kind of inoffensive banter and gags that you'd expect from a movie involving talking animals, the main problem is that it feels choppily patched together from other films and relies far too heavily on James' charm. There's only so much he can do here, but, my, does he do his best.
The best moments - of which there are few - come courtesy of Rogan in full blown 'ass mode.' He plays a great peacock, literally sticking his chest out whenever he and James meet and the two bounce off each other amusingly. But for every one of those moderately entertaining scenes there are several, clichéd unfunny ones - possibly involving a monkey talking about throwing poop. It looks like Adam Sandler, who voices said monkey, simply watched the ape's mouth movements and just improvised lines based around those specific movements...
The very young might be mildly distracted, but everyone else will have a hard time sitting through this.

Review by Mike Sheridan