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Critics Consensus: Zookeeper smothers Kevin James's with a sodden script and a surfeit of jokes inappropriate for the young viewers who would be intrigued by its juvenile storyline.
Critic Consensus: Zookeeper smothers Kevin James's with a sodden script and a surfeit of jokes inappropriate for the young viewers who would be intrigued by its juvenile storyline.
All Critics (131) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (113) | DVD (3)
Funniest moments? The outtakes during the closing credits. I rest my case.
Kevin James has developed an irresistible screen persona as a nice-guy/underdog, which has served him well in some pretty mediocre films like Paul Blart: Mall Cop. In that context, Zookeeper is a quantum leap forward...
I think there should be a subdivision of the ASPCA -- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Audiences.
Did we mention that things just go better with Kevin James? Well-trodden comedy hooks become strangely more amusing. Goofball physical shtick elicits broader smiles. The bumblingly stupid is made endearing.
Will most audiences mind this? Probably not. Should they? Of course. They deserve better and frankly, so does Kevin James.
Unfortunately, nobody had the good sense to call the comedy authorities and shut this Zookeeper down.
A hell paradigm - two brain-scrapingly terrible genres are mashed up into one ultimate torment of the soul.
Let's just hope Kevin James stops pissing on things long enough to realize his film career is already sufficiently soaked.
Movies like "Zookeeper" make you hate movies, restaurants, animals, and Earth.
Kevin James' new comedy Zookeeper may be popular with the kiddos, but slapstick humor and a cookie-cutter storyline doom it for adults.
Give Kevin James this much credit -- the dude leaves it all on the field, even when the movie's bad.
A high concept-movie falls almost as flat as star Kevin James doing pratfalls.
Bernie the Gorilla: Hey, don't leave me in the van; I'm out of the zoo without my iZod. "Don't talk to the animals... unless they talk to you first." Zookeeper is a rather messy, cliche, predictable family comedy that uses a premise that all animals can talk and that they will even befriend a certain type of person. So, so far this sounds awful. That's how I figured I'd view the film. I thought I wouldn't like it, and I believed it would be horrible. Now while it isn't a good movie by any standards, I was completely surprised by it. Somehow all this stupidness ends up being a rather fun time, even with Adam Sandler's horrible voice for the monkey. At the beginning of this movie we see a zookeeper propose to his girlfriend. It doesn't go well and then the story jumps several years ahead where we see that he's still a zookeeper even though the only reason his girlfriend wouldn't marry him was because he was a zookeeper. He loves his work though. When he runs into his girlfriend at a party for his brother who is getting married, he tries to win her back. A bunch of the zoo animals decide to try to help him out with his relationship problems and begin talking to him. In the end the story has the same sort of family theme that you don't need to change who you are to be happy. I sort of have an affection for these dumb comedies that Kevin James has been starring in. I didn't even hate Mall Cop. I've been a fan of James since I grew up watching his television show, The King of Queens. Ever since then, I always check out whatever he's in no matter how awful it looks. I was happy I checked out Mall Cop and now I'm happy I checked out Zookeeper. In the end, you sort of now what you're going to get from a movie like this. It isn't an amazing film by any standards, but there's something that is really likable about it all. I never thought I would say anything with talking animals would be likable, but this is just one of those times where a movie really surprises you.
Super Reviewer
I wanted to hate this cliche-ridden pablum, meant entirely for families (meaning the six - seven year olds children in those families and, of course, by extension their long suffering and mostly forgotten parents) ... but I couldn't. James is ever James and the very recognizable celeb voice work carry this past offensive into the just right zone. Just right for six - seven year olds.
Love Kevin James. Did not like this much...Goofy dumb, not goofy funny.
"Zookeeper" is another film about talking animals that you will probably come to hate before you even watch it through, but I must say, that because my expectations were down so low for this film, I came out pleasantly surprised. Okay, the script is atrocious, the acting is wooden, the plot is juvenile, but the emotion is true, and the chemistry between a talking gorilla and a man has never felt so realistic. I am not trying to say that it is a good movie, but it is far from bad. It is a very poor film about a zookeeper who is trying to find his way. Sure, it's filled with slapstick, bad jokes, and poor acting, but in the end, the film follows all the basic elements in storytelling, and this film is great for kids to watch. I had a little fun with this mess of a movie, so I will not hate on it. It' s far too average for my personal taste though!
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