Competitions, Films

Guest Post & Competition: We Bought A Zoo

March 16, 2012 by

Debbie Djordjevic reviews the charming new comedy We Bought A Zoo

Journalist Benjamin Mee bought the zoo in question in 2006 in Dartmouth here in the UK and still runs it to this day. The Benjamin Mee of ‘We Bought a Zoo’ by 20th Century Fox, is a journalist who gives up his job and yes, buys a zoo, this time in sunny California.

Don’t let this put you off however. Glossy it may be with Matt Damon as the journalist and family man, and Scarlett Johansson as the zookeeper, this still has real family crises, problems, feelings and sensibilities at its heart.

This is a story about coping with loss and grief.  Benjamin Mee’s wife and the mother to his two children has died and in their own way each family member is dealing with this awful loss. It’s a story about being absorbed in your own problems to the extent that you don’t see anyone else’s. Ultimately it’s a story of survival, growth and ultimate happiness. Everything, in fact, that makes a good story that engages, involves and makes you think up until the final scene.

Avoiding the mums at the school gates who all want to provide food and prove the old saying that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, Benjamin has to find a way of re-engaging with his teenage son and seven year old daughter. He decides to follow his own belief that ‘all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage and something great will come out of it’ by moving and starting afresh. He therefore goes on a house-hunting mission with the hilarious JB Smoove who is on his first day as a Real Estate Agent.

Several houses later they find the perfect house with a perfect problem – it comes with a zoo and under the terms of State Law the new owners have to maintain the zoo and its animals. They also have to work alongside the small team of employees headed up by Scarlett Johansson who has given up her life to dedicate her time to the animals.

The film has some laughs, some great animals and an appeal that stretches across the generations. It’s truly a family based adventure which has you crying one minute and laughing the next. We loved Matt Damon in this. An older and slightly more stocky Matt Damon is still one we could watch happily for a few hours. Scarlett Johansson provides an attractive opposite and the kids are cute and sassy.

I really enjoyed it and I know you will too. It made me think of what I would do if I had the chance to start over. Where would I go? (owning a spa in Thailand has always appealed).

Watch the film trailer here…

20th Century Fox is generously offering one lucky reader a Detox Package at Dove Spa (23 UK locations), including a Full Body Scrub, Detox Wrap, Brightening Mini Facial and a £30 Travel Allowance.

For a chance to win this prize, simply follow Chérie City on Facebook and comment on this post, telling us what you would do if you had the chance to start over and make your own ’20 seconds of insane courage’.

You can also like the movie on Facebook.

UK Release Date 16th March 2012

Terms & Conditions:

· Entrants must be 18 or over and entry is limited to one per person.
· The winner must claim the prize within 48 hours of contact, or a new winner will be selected.
· Appointments at Dove Spa are subject to availability and the winner will follow the booking conditions specified by Dove Spa.
· The prize is non-transferable and no cash alternatives will be offered.
· Closing date: Midnight on 30th March 2012.

SPONSORED POST

30 comments

30 Comments

  • Reply Chocoralie March 16, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    20 seconds of insane courage? Start over? I spent two years learning Korean at uni – I would have loved to continue and spend a year going around the country and who knows? Move there, teach French in private schools. Amazing culture and traditions.

  • Reply kirstine meredith March 16, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    I would have liked to carried on with my studies at college and to be teaching abroad or to be a Au Pair.

  • Reply FionaLynne Edwards March 16, 2012 at 10:17 pm

    I would gather up my now quite depleted savings and go and spend six months sailing around the Greek Islands – no hassle, no pressure – how wonderful!

  • Reply FionaLynne Edwards March 16, 2012 at 10:19 pm

    I don’t think I’d ever have that but if I did, I would gather up my now quite depleted savings and go and spend six months sailing around the Greek Islands – no hassle, no pressure – how wonderful!

  • Reply Zoe McCoy March 16, 2012 at 10:57 pm

    I don’t think I would do anything differently , love my hectic life and my beautiful babies

  • Reply Angela Sandhu March 16, 2012 at 11:27 pm

    I think i would go back and tell myself to concentrate on my career after university and not just presume that everything will just fall into place. I would also have kept my sister away from a rather horrible ex husband who has made her life an absolute misery.

  • Reply Julie Andrews March 17, 2012 at 8:35 am

    I would have studied harder and thought about what I wanted to do as a career, it could have changed my life now

  • Reply Charlotte Mountford March 17, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    If I had the chance to start over I’d do it all again just the same…no regrets! 🙂

  • Reply Paul Mellor March 17, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    If I could start over I wouldn’t change a single thing. Everything that has happened to me has helped to make me the person I am today and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

  • Reply Lorna thomas March 17, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    If I had my time over again I would hug and kiss my Mom more. It’s mothers day tomorrow and I miss her more than ever.

  • Reply Alix Johnson March 17, 2012 at 9:59 pm

    If I could change anything about my life it would be my career. I would love to get paid to do something I’m passionate about – like be a travel writer, wildlife photographer ot wedding planner.

  • Reply Lorraine Partyn March 17, 2012 at 10:01 pm

    I would have listened to my Mother’s advice!

  • Reply Chantal Botha March 18, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    If I had 20 seconds of insane courage I would have told the guy I fancied that I fancied him instead of just letting him go…

  • Reply Linda Chard March 18, 2012 at 4:36 pm

    I would have gone to univerSity 10 years ago and be a qualified Q.S….

  • Reply Alison E March 19, 2012 at 9:24 am

    I would have taken a few years off before university and done some humitarian voluntary work in Africa

  • Reply Lesley March 20, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    I would have taken a gap year and travelled around India. I have just seen The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, so maybe it is not too late ……………:)

  • Reply jen louise jackson March 26, 2012 at 9:23 pm

    20 seconds of insane courage? id have taken the job of my dreams that i turned down because i thought i wasnt good enough

  • Reply lucy clark March 27, 2012 at 12:35 am

    If I could change something I would have liked to have had a career and not just a job to pay the bills – it’s too late now which rings so true of what my mum used to tell me — “you won’t realise it until it’s too late”

  • Reply angelmuffy March 27, 2012 at 5:04 pm

    If I had 20 seconds of insane courage, I wish I had left my ex-husband years before he got a 19 year old pregnant during a two month affair lol.

  • Reply viv petrillo March 27, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    TO HAVE MET MY LOVELY PARTNER PAUL EVEN EARLIER THAN I DID IN 2007 WHEN HE WAS A LIBRARIAN AND I WAS A MATURE STUDENT IN TEXTILE DESIGN.

  • Reply Deborah Wheeler March 27, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    I would have kicked his sorry backside out the 1st time he cheated on me instead of 30 years later – now I feel too old to start again and too battle weary

  • Reply Kerrie Vella March 28, 2012 at 6:49 am

    i ould get a loan and go traveling round the world, and see so many places i will never get to!

  • Reply Jacquie Bennett March 29, 2012 at 8:22 am

    Go back to tell myself that credit cards are bad, boys are easy and study harder!

  • Reply Rachel March 29, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    Taken school more seriously and gone to see careers advisers

  • Reply Maria Knight March 29, 2012 at 7:02 pm

    There isnt a great deal i would change………the only one thing i would would be to have saved for a mortgage instead of being so keen on moving out and now being stuck in the renting game.

  • Reply Lyn Bosomworth March 29, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    I would have travelled more

  • Reply Florence Cross March 29, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    I wouldn’t have taken that phone call that led me to be with the wrong man for far too long.

  • Reply sam bailey March 29, 2012 at 10:12 pm

    Although i usually say ” don’t regret what you have done but regret what you haven’t done” there will always be things i should have done differently, and following my heart too many times due to wanting to be loved, is one of them

  • Reply Holly Green March 30, 2012 at 12:34 am

    In 20 seconds of insanity I’d book a round the world plane ticket, forget my responsibilities and not look back!

  • Reply rebecca denyer March 30, 2012 at 9:43 am

    I wouldnt have married my ex husband and let him take away all my confidence and courage

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