cheek by jowl
Were We Bought a Zoo and The Descendants the Same Movie?
Descendents, We Bought a Zoo
It's been a rough fall for single dads at the movies. Matt Damon has lost his wife not once but twice: first to a mutant bat-pig virus in Steven Soderbergh's Contagion, and again to a terminal disease in Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo. Meanwhile, George Clooney's wife in The Descendants falls into a coma after a boating accident and (mild spoiler alert) never wakes up. We Bought a Zoo is a holiday tear-jerker about moving on; The Descendants is a dark comedy about trying to forgive. Only one of them, unfortunately, involves a plotline about a clinically depressed Grizzly Bear. But despite their tonal and zoological differences, these two movies have more in common than just a handsomely sad-sack single dad. In fact, in many ways, they deliver roughly the same moviegoing experience! Please consider the similarities, handily listed for you below. (Warning: spoiler alerts for both Descendants and We Bought a Zoo ahead.)
 The Descendants |
 We Bought a Zoo |
|
|---|---|---|
| Who is the lead character? | Matt King (George Clooney), an inept but well-meaning single dad of two trying to keep his family together after his wife slips into a coma. | Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), an inept but well-meaning single dad of two trying to keep his family together after his wife dies. |
| Was this actor also in Ocean's Eleven? | Yes (Danny Ocean). | Yes (Linus Caldwell). |
| What is the older kid like? | Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) acts out at school, says cruel things to her father, and pals around with a weird spacy stoner kid named Sid. | Dylan (Colin Ford) acts out at school, says cruel things to his father, and pals around with a spacy pixie dream girl named Lily (Elle Fanning). |
| How about the younger kid? | Scottie (Amara Miller) is a sensitive, troubled child with a gift for cursing ("motherless whore") in high-pressure situations. | Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) is a sensitive, precocious child with a gift for cursing ("dick") in high-pressure situations. |
| Tell me about the dad's plan to bond with his children. | Matt takes his two children on a Hawaiian adventure to track down his wife's lover. | Benjamin takes his two children on a Southern California adventure to … buy a zoo. |
| Do his friends and family approve? | No, but they bring microwave dinners by the house anyway. | No, but they bring dishes of lasagna by the house anyway. |
| Does the dad express his distress through some sort of physical comedy? | Yes, George Clooney does a funny run. | Yes, Matt Damon does a funny punch-the-air freak-out. |
| How about through intense conversations with a being who can't respond? | Yes, to his comatose wife. | Yes, to a sick tiger. |
| Is a pain-in-the-ass Realtor involved? | Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), who was having an affair with Matt King's wife. | Mr. Stevens (J. B. Smoove), who sells the zoo to Benjamin Mee. |
| What about a striking blonde woman who teaches dad about love? | Julie Speer (Judy Greer), whose five-alarm hospital meltdown helps Matt let go of his anger. | Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johnasson), whose five-alarm hotness helps Benjamin let go of his dead wife. | Does dad lecture a large group of people about choosing family over business? | Yes. | Yes. |
| Does dad's crazy plan save the family? | More or less. | Of course! This is We Bought a Zoo! |
