Horribly clunky dialogue. All stuff you’ve seen before, but set in a zoo. An example: Know how you can tell the teenage boy is upset at his mom’s death? His drawings are violent and dark! (And it’s Hollywood, so his drawings are in this fancy leather journal, of course.) Also, the little girl is cute, but it’s Hollywood, so dad interacts with her as if she is an adult, asking for parenting advice.  Was wishing for Chipwrecked.

Guest Review from Your Movie Monkey’s 12-year-old daughter, Drama

I didn’t know what to expect from this movie.  From the commercial, the theme seems to be “a touching and inspiring family movie”, but it is packed with cussing.  The story was good but got side tracked.  Overall, my favorite part was the sets.  I liked how it ended, but the beginning was slow.  It was worth seeing.

Basically, 300 lite.  But entertaining if you like this type of movie.

An excellent movie, even though it has Seth Rogen. (For the life of me, I don’t get why he is so popular.) Best performance by an actor I’ve seen in a long, long time. (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Of course there is some ridiculous crassness because of Seth Rogan, Gordon-Levitt conveys so much with just his face. Along with Wit, another great movie detailing the pain of facing cancer essentially alone. Not for kids, of course.

Wow, that was a good movie. Recommended by friends at work, and they were right. If you like movies from India, you’ll like this one a lot.

If Your Movie Monkey never hears Larry the Cable Guy again, it will be too soon.

It is unbelievable that this movie had a 91% positive on rotten tomatoes. Very, very well acted. Funny in places, and moving. But it’s predictable as they come. Your Movie Monkey outlined the plot in his head in the first 5 minutes. And it’s definitely slow in places. Bobby Cannavale is phenomenal as Paul Giamatti’s buddy Terry, and Jeffery Tambor is great as usual. It’s just slow. Not There Will Be Blood slow, but slow. Oh yes, and fans of the Office will enjoy seeing Amy Ryan in a serious turn.

An interesting movie, perhaps a little slow in spots. Well acted for sure, nice scenery. Made Your Movie Monkey curious whether Mary Seurat was an innocent bystander as the movie portrays.

Standard superhero fare.  Big budget, yet somehow charisma-free.

Really fun summer action movie. Chris Hemmerline does action and comedy both well, Natalie Portman is great. Anthony Hopkins is even decent (occasionally Sir Anthony can be a little hammy). The only thing Your Movie Monkey found a little funny was that the realm (planet) of bad guys was called Yodenheim (or Jodenheim or something). Every time Your Movie Monkey heard this, he thought it sounded like a mid-sized town that Borscht Belt comics knew well. (Oy, when you work Jodenheim, be sure to stop at Bubbie’s for a knisch!)

Your Movie Monkey was surprised it’s rated PG-13. He thinks the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was rated PG, and it was more violent. Alice in Wonderland was PG and it was way, way more violent. Very little language, and that was mild. No “adult situation”. Just a fun movie.  Your Movie Monkey took his 9 year old and had no issues with it.

So, I knew critics wouldn’t like this because it presents a family that actually likes each other and doesn’t swear. They will claim unrealistic, of course, but this movie (based on a true story) was inspirational. Sure, maybe a few times that the dialogue feels a little stiff, but my guess is that they had a much smaller budget than other big Hollywood movies. A moving story, for sure.