Kevin James keeps the comedy flowing in his latest offering, “Zookeeper.” But does it work with talking animals and a gorilla as his pal?
ZOOKEEPER
Columbia Pictures, MGM
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for “some rude and suggestive humor, and language”
RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes
URL: http://zookeeper-movie.com/
Directed by: Frank Coraci
Cast: Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, Leslie Bibb and features the voices of Cher, Nick Nolte, Adam Sandler, and Sylvester Stallone
Studio Synopsis:
In “Zookeeper,” the animals at the Franklin Park Zoo love their kindhearted caretaker, Griffin Keyes (Kevin James). Finding himself more comfortable with a lion than a lady, Griffin decides the only way to get a girl in his life is to leave the zoo and find a more glamorous job. The animals, in a panic, decide to break their time-honored code of silence and reveal their biggest secret: they can talk! To keep Griffin from leaving, they decide to teach him the rules of courtship – animal style. The film also stars Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb and features the voices of Cher, Nick Nolte, Adam Sandler, and Sylvester Stallone.
J.P.’s Take:
“Zookeeper” is your family friendly comedy that involves talking animals, similar in vein to “Dr. Doolittle.” The zoo critters decide to break their code of silence and speak to a human, who happens to be Griffin Keyes (Kevin James). Griffin is the animal-loving zookeeper who can’t seem to get over his ex, Stephanie (Leslie Bibb). On top of that, he’s painfully shy when it comes to romance. This is when his beastly pals rush to his aid to offer their advice on attracting a woman.
Usually I don’t care for movies with talking animals unless they’re in cartoons or animations, but surprisingly this was a movie I actually wanted to see. Mainly it’s because of Kevin James, whom I’m slowly becoming a fan of. What James specializes in is playing the “every day man” in convincing ways, switching from his comical side to the average Joe without breaking character. To add to his credit he also co-wrote and co- produced, aside from staring as the film’s leading man.
Much of the comedy in “Zookeeper” stems from Griffin’s interaction with the animals, where he consults with them for advice. The advice he’s given usually works in the animal kingdom, however, it doesn’t quite translate to the human world. For example, Joe the Lion (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) suggests he should be more aggressive at gaining attention from the female. He tries this tactic on his ex-fiancée’s new boyfriend Gale (Joe Rogan), where he attempts to show him who’s really the man. Instead Griffin ends up looking even more foolish than before. Sebastian the Wolf (voiced by Sebastian “Bas” Rutten) thinks he should mark his territory. I didn’t expect him to actually take this silly bit of advice seriously, when he decides to urinate in a potted plant at his brother’s wedding rehearsal. Jim the Frog (voiced by Don Rickles) tells him to puff up his throat, yet it only appears he needs to throw up; not show his opponents that he means business. I get the point of all of these suggestions however.
Other comedy bits I consider good fun is when Griffin befriends a gorilla named Bernie (voiced by Nick Nolte). As the two of them become best buddies, Griffin treats Bernie to a night out at TGI Friday’s. Being that this is Bernie’s first time outside the zoo walls, the pair has a blast.
It also turns out that James is quit the physical actor as well. He demonstrates this in a scene where he attends his brother’s wedding with Kate (Rosario Dawson). The two of them share a dance scene, as Kate explains the mating ritual of the eagle. She tells him that the female is impressed by the male that can fly the highest. Kate and Griffin then stroll out to the dance floor, to perform some aerial acrobatics, pretending they were the birds in the mating ritual. He looked pretty impressive to me.
Along with Stallone, Nolte, Rutten, and Rickles, a star-studded cast plays the voices of the zoo animals: Cher as the lioness named Janet; Faizon Love and Jon Favreau as Bruce and Jerome, respectively, as the grizzly bears; Adam Sandler as Donald the Capuchin Monkey; Maya Rudolph as Molie the Giraffe; Judd Apatow as Barry the Elephant; Jim Breuer as Spike the Crow; and Richie Minervini as Elmo the Ostrich.
I’m also pretty big fan of the very attractive Rosario Dawson, who seems to do well in many of her roles. She takes on another smaller role as Zookeeper’s co-worker, but she makes her characters shine none the less. In this film, she’s the emotional support for Griffin.
Other cast members include: Donnie Wahlberg as the abusive zookeeper Shane; Joe Rogan as the smarmy Gale; Ken Jeong, with his usual comical stylings, as co-worker Venom; and Leslie Bibb as Stephanie, Griffin’s ex-fiancé and a snob of obvious proportions. James’s real-life wife, Steffiana De La Cruz, makes an appearance as Robin, fiancée to Griffin’s brother.
I saw the film with “Sidewalks” creator and co-host, Richard R. Lee, who thought the movie was unexpectedly cute and a pretty good vehicle for the family, although some of the jokes should go over the kids’ head. He felt there were some unnecessary scenes (like Griffin’s later confidence around his ex and working at his brother’s car dealership), as well as too many animals to interact with, but he did enjoy the relationship between Griffin and the gorilla Bernie. As with me, he particularly found the scene – a night out at TGI Friday’s and daydreaming on top of a van – strong highlights of the film. Lee wished the writers spent a little longer on Bernie’s and Griffin’s relationship as part of the focus of the film and less on James’ must have comedic situations, which was getting old as the movie rolled on. On the other hand, at the same time, the film worked because of James’ likability and his physical comedy, as he did in “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” and his former TV series, “The King of Queens.”
For what it’s worth this was an endearing movie like many of Kevin James comedy vehicles, and I look forward to his next effort.