Daddy’s Home (2015) Film Review

Imagine if you had an idea for making a comedy feature film where a good guy marries a great woman and takes on her two children, and then the father, who’s a bit of a wild guy, comes back and they both want to be head of the family. I expect someone probably would say to you ‘hey, it’s not that original, and I think that most of the jokes would be pretty average’. And imagine if you said ‘oh, but I can get Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg’ and they responded with ‘yeah, but will they do anything good with this?’ Now imagine that you responded saying ‘Nah, let’s do something good instead’. The world would be a better place.

It’s not the worst comedy I’ve ever seen, but jeepers creepers, it’s a stinker. I’m sure that it will make a lot of people a lot of money, and there may be some people who love it. In the cinema I was in, there were kids in front of me who were so bored they started playing games on their phones. I think I may have watched their gameplay for a good four or five minutes and was far more entertained.

We Bought a Zoo (2011) Film Review

Adventure writer Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is coping with the loss of his wife and raising two children when he decides to buy a zoo. It’s a run down place that needs a series of renovations to bring up to code to open in the summer, and has a skeleton staff who are dedicated to keeping the animals as best they can despite a lack of money. Working with them, in particular Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson), Benjamin finds a way to run the zoo and connect with his kids.

I think this was marketed as a film for kids, but I think it is too sad for many kids. And then there are a couple of bit with animals which I found a bit scary, but stick a bear in a film and I just expect the worst. But I don’t think it is for adults, it is just too child focussed. I believe it did well at the box office. It’s okay. Though I was distracted whenever the little girl was onscreen – she is just far too ridiculously adorable.