BEFORE: Linking actors seemed to be impossible tonight, until I realized that, according to IMDB, three actors did appear in both this film and "Zookeeper": Bart the bear, Crystal the monkey, and Felix the lion. Hey, I never specifically said that the links would be human actors. Still, I'm not sure why the IMDB keeps track of this sort of thing. It's not that the animals don't do fine work, but it seems like the database has enough work keeping track of people's roles, and maybe only animal casting agents would be interested in the resumes of lions and monkeys.
THE PLOT: A father moves his family to the countryside to renovate and re-open a struggling zoo.
AFTER: I guess when I kicked off Movie Year 5 with "Les Miserables", it sort of set the tone for the year. Already this year I've covered mutinies, shipwrecks, drug addiction, sex addiction, horrible bosses, fake romances, affairs, divorces, animal abuse, dirty politics, fatal illnesses, viral outbreaks, the monkey uprising, Smurf invasion, and "The Cat in the Hat". So I've seen my share of disaster, and the year's just entering its second quarter.
This film seemed like it was going to fit right in line, with a family weighed down by grief and loss, then taking on the perils of renovating a broken-down zoo, and coming close to bankruptcy as a result. But with a little more cash and a lot of determination, they find a way to turn it around, which ultimately brings them closer together. It ended up being even more uplifiting than "Life of Pi" was supposed to be (but wasn't).
These zoo films come at a time for me when I'm thinking about career change. The lead character in "Zookeeper" left the zoo, but then came back to it, and tonight's lead walks away from a reporting career and then finds a new one at a zoo. It's not that I'm thinking of working at a zoo (some might say that I already do...) but which is the right path for me? Stick with something I know well, or strike out and do something crazy?
This year marks 20 years in the animation biz for me, and I've been an office manager, producer, film trafficker, researcher, voice-over artist, event coordinator, ghost writer, payroll manager - you name it. There's a little voice inside that says I should take what I've learned and go work for Disney or Marvel or something - but then I'd just be a cog in some giant corporate wheel. I looked at the job openings for Marvel yesterday, and they have titles like "web data analyst" or "licensing traffic coordinator" and I think after a week of doing a very specific job I'd want to shoot myself. So the louder voice says I'm in a good place being a sort of jack-of-all-trades at two companies.
But what about the other little voice that says to go out and do something crazy? Write a screenplay, open a sandwich shop, travel around the country taking pictures of people dressed like super-heroes? Obviously there's more risk involved, plus less pay, and I guess if I really felt strongly about doing those things I'd just go do them. Who knows, I may get those opportunities - but the louder voice prevails, saying to stay the course, be sensible, keep getting paychecks.
Then the other inner voice pops up and wonders, "Why am I looking for career advice from a couple of zoo movies?" Why do I have to keep second-guessing myself, why do I wonder if I can succeed at something else, when I'm enjoying some measure of success now? Who's to tell me I can't spend 20 years in one place, and make my career the way I want to? Plenty of people have spent their whole careers at one job, and what's wrong with that? Isn't there something to be said for company loyalty, and sticking with a job that needs to be done?
Really, I don't know why I'm burdening you with all this, but it feels good to talk about it.
Starring Matt Damon (last seen in "Contagion"), Scarlett Johansson (last seen in "The Horse Whisperer"), Thomas Haden Church (last seen in "Easy A"), Angus Macfadyen (last seen in "The Rat Pack"), Elle Fanning (last seen in "Babel"), Patrick Fugit, John Michael Higgins (last seen in "Bad Teacher"), Carla Gallo, J.B. Smoove, with a cameo from Peter Riegert (last seen in "The Mask")
RATING: 7 out of 10 boxes of haddock
No comments:
Post a Comment