Genre : Comedy/Romance

Duration : 1h 52m

Being a movie buff, I often wonder, which is that one movie that is really close to my heart. The answer to this question is “Zookeeper”. There are obvious reasons for the choice, one being an animal lover I really enjoy the part where the animals start to talk and two, how hilarious it is to understand that your bestfriend/wingman is a Gorilla.

Now let me describe the movie to you.

Griffin is socially inept Zookeeper who is sweet and goofy. He loves and deeply cares for his animals and so do the animals. He is shown to have an emotional turmoil as he is turned down by his ex girlfriend Stephanie for having a low paying job. Things are going plain for Griffin, until one fine day he finds out a secret that the animals can talk.

As hilarious as it sounds, the animals can speak perfectly in a variety of accents, ranging from Bernie the Gorilla (Nick Nolte), Donald the Monkey (Adam Sandler), Joe the Lion (Sylvester Stallone) and Janet the Lioness (Cher), down the evolutionary scale to Don Rickles doing Frog, who doesn’t have a first name. Now that Griffin knows the secret, he becomes more attached to the animals and the animals help him sorting out his emotional issues. During this phase, he becomes best friends with Bernie the Gorilla. Bernie at first is shown emotionally unavailable as he has been tortured by a fellow zookeeper. Slowly Bernie opens up to Griffin and the friendship that follows is so pure. Definitely reminds me of my bestfriend.

Now for the twist, Griffin is offered a job at his brother’s luxury car dealership, and he now has a chance to wow Stephanie. Problem is, he’s paralyzed by shyness. The animals team up to advise him, suggesting tactics such as aggression (by the lions), peeing and marking his territory (by the wolves) and puffing out his throat (by the Frog). He takes them so seriously that he marks his territory at his brother’s rehearsal dinner by peeing in a potted plant. For the rehearsal dinner, Griffin asks out Kate to accompany him. Kate being another amazing human and someone who shares the same love for animals, tags along with Griffin and starts liking him. Griffin, unaware of Kate’s feelings focuses on Stephanie and finally is able to get back with her. Now with Stephanie comes the need of lavish lifestyle and Griffin considers on choosing to quit his old job as the Zookeeper.

Griffin makes a difficult choice of leaving the zoo, which obviously hurts Bernie and all other animals. Kate is also left heartbroken to an extend where she also plans on quitting and shifting to another place. Griffin finally realises that he has lost his own-self in the pursuit to win Stephanie. The realisation is followed by action, he leaves Stephanie and his lavish lifestyle just to go back to Zoo and tell Kate that he actually wants to be with her. Griffin apologizes to Bernie and wins him back. Now for the climax, Griffin is accompanied by Bernie on a thrilling car chase to stop Kate and win her back. Griffin finally makes it to her and wins her heart thereby making it a happy ending.!

Scenes to look forward to :

• Bernie’s Birthday celebration in TGIF. (Really hilarious, that Gorilla is really smooth with girls.)
• Kate and Griffin’s Rehearsal dinner dance.
• Griffin’s voilence against the evil zookeeper who tortures Bernie (My favourite, shows alot of emotions).