Zookeeper (film)

Zookeeper
International poster
Directed by	Frank Coraci
Produced by	Todd Garner Kevin James Adam Sandler Jack Giarraputo Walt Becker
Screenplay by	Nick Bakay Rock Reuben Kevin James Jay Scherick David Ronn
Story by	Jay Scherick David Ronn Keenan Donahue
Starring	Kevin James Rosario Dawson Leslie Bibb Steffiana De La Cruz Donnie Wahlberg Thomas Gottschalk Voices: Sylvester Stallone Cher Nick Nolte Adam Sandler Maya Rudolph Bas Rutten
Music by	Rupert Gregson-Williams
Cinematography	Michael Barrett
Editing by	Scott Hill
Studio	Happy Madison Productions Broken Road Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	July 8, 2011 (2011-07-08)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$169,852,759

Zookeeper is a 2011 comedy film starring Kevin James, and featuring the voices of Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Nick Nolte, Don Rickles, Judd Apatow, Jon Favreau, Cher and Faizon Love. The film contains computer animation, is produced by Sandler's production company, Happy Madison, and was distributed by Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was released on July 8, 2011.

Plot

Griffin Keyes (Kevin James) sets up a plan to propose to the love of his life, Stephanie (Leslie Bibb), but she rejects him and claims that his career as a zookeeper is what is keeping her away, therefore breaking Griffin's heart.

Five years later, Griffin is shown to be the lead zookeeper at the Franklin Park Zoo who cares deeply for the zoo animals. That night, Griffin holds a party at the zoo for his brother Dave (Nat Faxon) who is getting married, but freaks out when he discovers that Stephanie was invited. Dave offers Griffin to come and work with him at the car dealership, explaining that it is the best way to win Stephanie. Griffin thinks that he should quit his job at the zoo and join his brother.

Later, the animals hold a meeting saying that they think Griffin is the best zookeeper at the zoo and don't want him to leave, so they decide to find some way to help him win Stephanie's heart. Jerome the bear (Jon Favreau) suggests that they teach Griffin their animal mating techniques, but Joe the lion (Sylvester Stallone) protests, reminding them that it's against the animal code to talk to humans. Donald the monkey (Adam Sandler) says that Stephanie will be at the zoo tomorrow and all the animals have to do is make Griffin look like a hero in front of her.

The next day, Donald unlocks the door to the lion enclosure and lets Joe out, who confronts Stephanie and Dave's fiancee Robin (Steffiana de la Cruz). Kate (Rosario Dawson), the zoo vet manages to get them away from Joe, but Griffin fails to jump into the lion enclosure, ruining the animals' plan. The night afterward, the animals break their code of silence and tell Griffin that they will teach him what to do to win Stephanie. Griffin learns their different mating rituals, but ends up humiliating himself in front of the other zookeepers and the guests.

Griffin then has a talk with Bernie (Nick Nolte), a forlorn gorilla who was moved into a deep enclosure after allegedly attacking Shane (Donnie Wahlberg), another zookeeper. Bernie explains to Griffin that Shane abuses the animals and he fell when he was abusing Bernie. He lied and said that Bernie attacked him, causing Bernie to lose his trust in anyone.

Griffin discovers that Stephanie is dating her other ex-boyfriend, a bullying alpha-male named Gale (Joe Rogan). Janet (Cher), Joe's wife, tells Griffin that the best way to attract a female is to be seen with another female, so Griffin asks Kate to go on a date with him at Dave and Robin's wedding. Griffin then takes Bernie to T.G.I. Fridays and the two form a friendly bond.

Griffin and Kate go on their date and have a great time together. Griffin becomes brave enough to stand up to Gale and this grabs Stephanie's attention. After Kate tells Griffin she had a great time with him, Stephanie asks Griffin out to dinner. Griffin accepts and they both go to dinner and then go to a fashion show. Stephanie tells Griffin that his job at the zoo is holding him from the outside world, so Griffin decides to quit his job and accepts Dave's offer, which makes Kate upset. Bernie also becomes upset and tells Griffin that he thought he could trust somebody again, but was proved wrong when Griffin quits his job. Kate decides to leave the zoo and go work at a zoo in Africa.

Griffin becomes the best employee at the car dealership, but misses working at the zoo. Stephanie proposes to Griffin, but Griffin refuses and dumps her. He then goes back to the zoo and apologizes to Bernie, who accepts Griffin's friendship. The animals then tell Griffin that Kate is heading to the airport. With the help of Bernie, Griffin manages to catch up with Kate and confesses his love for her. Six months later, Griffin and Kate are back working at the zoo and Bernie is back living in his old enclosure where he gets a great view of the city.

Cast

Live action roles

• Kevin James as Griffin Keyes, the lead zookeeper.
• Rosario Dawson as Kate, The Zoo Vet
• Leslie Bibb as Stephanie, Griffin's antagonistic love interest who turns down his marriage proposal because of the job he has.
• Donnie Wahlberg as Shane, a rude animal abusing zookeeper.
• Joe Rogan as Gale, Stephanie's alpha-male boyfriend.
• Nat Faxon as Dave, Griffins brother who convinces Griffin to work at his car dealership.
• Tanya Chisholm as Kate
• Ken Jeong as Venom, the worker at the reptile house.
• Steffiana de la Cruz as Robin, Dave's fiance later turned wife. De La Cruz is the real life wife of Kevin James.
• Thomas Gottschalk as Jürgen Mavroc
• Brandon Keener as Nimer

Voice roles

• Nick Nolte as Bernie the Lowland Gorilla
• Sylvester Stallone as Joe the Lion
• Adam Sandler as Donald the Capuchin Monkey
• Judd Apatow as Barry the Asian Elephant
• Cher as Janet the Lioness, Joe's wife
• Jon Favreau and Faizon Love as Jerome and Bruce the Grizzly Bears
• Maya Rudolph as Mollie the Reticulated Giraffe
• Matthew Liao as Tom the Cat
• Don Rickles as Jim the Bullfrog
• Jim Breuer as Spike the Crow
• Richie Minervini as Elmo the Ostrich

Additional voices

• Catherine Cavadini
• Frank Welker
• Jeff Bennett
• Anne Lockhart
• Jennifer Darling
• Grey DeLisle
• Scott Menville
• Paige O'Hara
• Tom Kenny
• E.G. Daily
• Rob Paulsen
• Jack Angel
• Jim Cummings
• Bill Farmer
• Corey Burton
• Michael Gough
• Kevin Michael Richardson
• Mark Schiff
• Patrick Warburton
• Tara Strong

Production

Filming began in Boston on August 17, 2009, aiming for a release in October 2010, which got delayed, rearranging the film to be released on July 8, 2011. Filming ended on October 30, 2009.

Geoffrey, the giraffe who rose to fame as a star in the classic Toys "R" Us commercials and who appeared alongside Jim Carrey in the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, died after filming Zookeeper at the San Diego Zoo. The 18-year-old giraffe collapsed during feeding and in the care of his trainer.

==Controve Tai who was featured in a video reportedly filmed in 2005 and released in 2011 by Animal Defenders International (ADI) showing him being abused by its trainers. A campaign to boycott the movie was formed since the outbreak of the news. ADI has also contacted the American Humane Association, urging them to re-evaluate how they assess the use of animals in films and the statements being made which effectively endorse the use of performing animals. Animal rights advocates PETA also urged the public to boycott the film.

Around 50 people came to the film's premiere at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, California to protest against the filmmakers for their alleged animal abuse. Frank Coraci claimed that the animals were not harmed during production. In an interview, Coraci stated, "...We worked with people who love their animals and [the American] Humane Association was there to ensure that they were being treated correctly. We didn’t do anything that we shouldn’t do. We treated the animals with love and respect."

Reception

The film has been critically panned. Only 14% of critics have given it a fresh review on the movie review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, with 17 of 121 being positive. The site's consensus is "Zookeeper smothers Kevin James' inherent likability with its sodden script and a surfeit of jokes that might be inappropriate for the young viewers intrigued by its juvenile storyline." The film has a normalized score of 30/100 on Metacritic, indicating generally unfavorable reviews.

Mary Pols of Time magazine named it one of the Top 10 Worst Movies of 2011. British newspaper The Telegraph named Zookeeper one of the ten worst films of 2011, saying "Portly Kevin James is the hero of this “comedy”, which boasts five screenwriters and not a single amusing moment." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, who co-hosts the movie review series Ebert Presents: At the Movies, said that "even though the movie looks hilarious from the trailer, it is only hilarious if you enjoy seeing Kevin James fall down a lot". He gave the film a "thumbs down," as did Christy Lemire, the other co-host of the series.^{[citation needed]} In May 2011, RedLetterMedia (creators of the Mr. Plinkett reviews) did an episode of the show Half in the Bag reviewing the film's first trailer. The hosts praised the trailer as if they thought it was a fake, well crafted parody of a tired subset of the comedy genre, at one point noting "All they were missing was a wise cracking sidekick for Kevin James, played by a rapper."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times published a three-out-of-four star review, stating, "Look, a great movie this is not. A pleasant summer entertainment it is. I think it can play for all ages in a family audience ... and besides, I'm getting a teensy bit exhausted by cute little animated animals. The creatures in this zoo all have the excellent taste to be in 2D."

Accolades

Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
2011 Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer Movie Star – Female	Rosario Dawson	Nominated

Box office

Zookeeper made its debut in 3,482 theaters in the United States and Canada. It grossed $7.4 million on its opening day and $20.1 million on its opening weekend, ranking it #3 for the weekend behind holdover Transformers: Dark of the Moon and newcomer Horrible Bosses.

Home media

Zookeeper was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 11, 2011.

External links

• Official website
• Zookeeper at AllRovi
• Zookeeper at Box Office Mojo
• Zookeeper at the Internet Movie Database
• Zookeeper at Rotten Tomatoes