Kevin James is a fantastic actor. He was a riot in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, had a great role in The King of Queens, and even had a few key moments in last summer’s comedy Grown Ups. So I went into Zookeeper thinking that this movie could be a pleasant surprise, even if it involved talking animals, and just hoped for the best.
Unfortunately though, I can’t support James this time.

The sub-par plotline was completely predictable and cliché: a geeky man named Griffin (James) is embarrassingly rejected by a beautiful, but plastic girl (Leslie Bibb) who believes that his job as a zookeeper is not classy enough for her. To show their gratefulness to the man’s service at the local zoo, his animal friends, whom James soon discovers to be capable of communication, help him impress her. But James realizes that Bibb wants him to be someone he is not and thus leaves her forever, turning to his colleague (Rosario Dawson). The end.

Don’t get me wrong – this movie had its moments. Kevin James as lead zookeeper was well-casted; his acting, over-the-top faces and constant slips and falls really epitomized the likeable and almost cutely pathetic character he was portraying. Additionally, Ken Jeong’s role as the creepy employee who runs the reptile booth at the zoo was just another reminder of why he is one of the funniest actors in Hollywood today.

However, aside from the basic plotline, the movie touched upon many other sub-plotlines to perhaps create more interest, including hints of animal abuse, a grumpy gorilla, jealousy and job competition, but these were not significant enough to hold any pertinence to or add to the appeal of the overall story.

In addition, the animals’ characters were extremely over-the-top. Featuring the voices of prominent figures such as Cher, Sylvester Stallone, and Adam Sandler, to name a few, these animals were unfortunately portrayed as shrill and loud. They obviously tried to be funny, but failed miserably.

Yet what disappointed me the most was that though the movie was supposed to be about talking animals, it did not focus as much on what being an animal feels like from the creature’s perspective, which I feel is of greatest importance when it comes to movies like this one. Instead, the film was more based on how animals can advise humans’ dating lives. (Oh, and the relationship suggestions weren’t so brilliant either, since the animals’ pick-up techniques led to James turning into a superficial jerk. Word of advice: don’t look to a monkey to fix your love life.)

In all, I didn’t expect much out of Zookeeper in the first place, but the film turned out to be worse than what I had hoped for. After James’ hilarious roles in his past, this movie turned out to be a letdown: cheesy, extremely kiddish and just overall disappointing.