Kind-hearted zookeeper Griffin (Kevin James) is a much loved by his co-workers and the animals in his care. However, Griffin is unlucky in love so when he reconnects with ex-girlfriend Stephanie (Leslie Bibb), the animals in the zoo decide to break their code of silence in order to help him win her back.
Zookeeper is not good, and it also struggles to figure out what it is. The scenario of animals taking and helping out a zookeeper makes it targeted towards younger audiences. However, the humour is full of inuendo that children won’t understand or find it funny, and the adults who might find it funny, are unlikely to be watching this film in the first place.
The special effects for the animals aren’t terrible, however the choice of voice actors might well be. I’m not saying you expect a certain voice to come from a bear or a giraffe, but a lot of the voice cast didn’t suit the animal or give a good performance. So many of the animals sounded grumpy or were mean. They weren’t exactly friendly and if they’d been human with those attitudes, I doubt Griffin or anyone else would’ve been friends with them.
Kevin James gives a perfectly bland performance as nice guy Griffin. He has no chemistry with Bibb, or Rosario Dawson who plays a vet at the zoo, so one has to wonder how he is cast as a romantic comedy type lead. He is good at falling over and crashing into things though. So, there’s that.
I doubt anyone would consider this a spoiler, or care if it was, but I have to mention what happens during the end credits. All of the animals sing Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” and it’s one of the weirdest things I’ve seen and one of the worst things I’ve heard. Especially when Sylvester Stallone tries to harmonise with Cher. Yep, that is something that happens. No offence to Cher, she’s amazing, Stallone on the other hand, is not.
Zookeeper is unfunny, predictable, and somewhat unsuitable for the kids it’s aimed for. Just don’t waste your time. 1/5.
Elena Square Eyes 
I’ve never watched this movie (it looks as bad as you describe it), but it was actually filmed in the local zoo within walking distance of my home. When my children were younger, we visited the zoo a lot and the center part of the zoo was closed off with an elaborate set constructed for the movie. I’ve always been a little curious to see how the scenes shot in our zoo turned out, but never curious enough to actually watch the movie.
Congratulations on completing your A to Z Challenge! I’ve enjoyed reading your movie reviews.
That’s cool that it was filmed near you and can see why your at least a little interested in the end product.
This was the only film starting with Z on Netflix so I had to make do 😀
Thank you! And thanks for reading and commenting, I really appreciate it even if I’m rather slow at responding 🙂
I didn’t care for this one either… For some reason though.. I love Mall Cop. I have no idea why though. I Love movies and I even watched a few you recommended. Sometimes it’s hard to find something to occupy myself with right now. Thank you for sharing and Congratulations on finishing.
Yeah I find it tough to watch new to me films at the minute and instead I’m going back to old favourites because then I can still enjoy the story but it doesn’t matter if I’m not 100% focused because I’ve seen it before.
Thank you 🙂
Pretty sure I saw this movie. Or tried to watch it anyway.
Congratulations on reaching z.
I hope you and yours are staying safe and healthy during this difficult time.
J Lenni Dorner~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author
Haha! Not gonna lie, I was multitasking slightly when watching it because I knew I couldn’t give it my full attention and make my way through it all.
Thanks you. And same to you. It’s been good having this challenge to focus on.