Benjamin Mee (Damon) is a widower trying to raise two kids on his own. He was an adventure seeker who found a way to make a living chasing adventure and writing for the paper. When his wife passes away from cancer (I assume, the film never comes out and says what she was sick with), his life falls to pieces. His son (Dylan) becomes disillusioned with him, and life in general, and Benjamin is doing everything he can to keep the same thing from happening to his seven-year-old daughter, Rosie.
Dylan gets his third strike at school from stealing a cash box from the lunchroom, and is expelled. Rosie can't sleep because the neighbors are being, "happy too loud", Benjamin quits his job because his boss is patronizing him, and everything in town reminds him of his recently deceased wife. He decides it's time for a change, and the family goes looking for a new house.
The only place that seems to fit their need to get away is a large, 18 acre, property, in the middle of nowhere. Benjamin and Rosie fall in love with the place, but the dream house comes with a heavy addendum to the purchase contract; it's a Zoo. They can only buy the place if they put forth the effort to keep up the Zoo, care for the animals, and reopen the business, otherwise the endangered animals will be put to sleep.
The staff had all quit, save a few die-hard animal lovers. The current Zoo Keeper is Kelly Foster (Johansson), who is under-qualified, but hopeful. The two make a go at getting the Zoo back to its former glory.
We watched this with the kids, and everybody liked it. It's a heartwarming story, without getting too sappy. Watching Benjamin struggle through his feelings over the loss of his wife was beautifully done by Mr. Damon. To me, he's an action film guy aka Jason Bourne, but he transitioned very well into this role.
The story is true. Though, the actual events were far different from the film, the family still runs the zoo (or did at the end of the filming of the movie).
I'd give the film
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