Occasionally you will now be seeing my new discussion posts about seeing the movie before reading the book. Like many readers I prefer to read the book first and often like the book much better than the movie. Sometimes though you can't wait to see a movie and either don't find out until after the movie there was a book or just didn't get the time to read the book first.
This my first I Saw the Movie First post and I hope you like it but would love feedback either way.
Some time ago I happened to catch We Bought a Zoo on TV, I happen to love Matt Damon and am always a sucker for animal movies so had to watch it. It took until about 6 months ago for me to realize that it was based on a book.
Now when I watched the movie it was incredibly emotional. Full of both conflicts, grief, struggles and joy. The animals really played a key role and definitely had personalities all their own, and of course the main and even sub-characters were all fantastic. The actors they chose for the movie were perfect and really played off each other well. This movie could possibly be one of my top 20 movies and I definitely watch it every time I happen to catch it on TV.
Once I found out there was a book the movie was based off I went on the hunt and downloaded the audio version.
The audio version was a little over 8 hours and I was almost immediately thrown off to find out not only was author British and the Zoo located in England but the narrator also had a British accent. Furthermore, the book was not nearly as emotional and I had absolutely no connection with the events or the characters. I was surprised as to how little the animals came into play in the story until a few brief glimpses at the end. Also the family connection was not there at all, the wife's medical issues and subsequent death were approached from a very analytical view and had absolutely no emotion connected at all. You can see my full review HERE.
All in all the movie was many times over was more emotional and relatable. I definitely preferred the movie.
As kind of a side note and a little bit of From the Book, we recently visited a privately owned zoo in our area. We went to the Southwicks Zoo with Munchkin (his first visit to a zoo) and were very impressed. We have a State Zoo closer to us and have been a few times but were impressed with how much larger, and viewable the zoo was at Southwicks. We spent several hours walking through and viewing their animals and still did not even come close to seeing everything (I was a little disappointed I never found the Armadillo, my favorite animal). Either way I have a feeling we will try to at least visit this zoo once a year in the future.
For your viewing pleasure, pictures of Munchkin, animals and our visit to the zoo.
he was a little nervous at the petting zoo, the goats were very pushy
Munchkin loved roaring at the tigers
'Look Momma'
I am pretty sure there is a baby in there but couldn't get a clear view
The Deer Park was fantastic, the deer weren't too push but would approach and it was a nice walk through the woods.
The giraffe exhibit was unbelievable! I think we counted 3 babies and they were so cute!
Munchkin's favorite, he kept calling him Curious George and wanted to play ball with it.
Of course being a boy his favorite part of the day
Munchkin's comment "Wow! Momma, Wow! Digger!"
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