TAKING GOOD MOVIES FOR GRANTED is easy in the winter months, when the Oscar race is heating up and so many major artists have great working coming to the silver screen.  In the glut of greatness, some films go unnoticed, get written off as fare of less substance.  I’m afraid that was the case with Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo.  I did not see it at first because reviews were mixed at best.  Let’s face it: the show looks kind of schmaltzy, too.  But then I gave the movie a go before it left theaters and loved it.  Sure, it had hokey moments, but those hokey moments were anchored by three beautiful moments, two of a kind of magical realism and one of practical symbolism.

The story follows Benjamin Mee and his two children following the loss of Mee’s wife.  As one character puts it, he’s at a place where he has stopped telling stories.  In an attempt to start over fresh, to give his kids an “authentic American experience,” Mee ends up buying and living in a run-down zoo.  The movie showcases the zoo staff’s effort at cleaning things up in hopes of passing inspection and opening in the summer.

Like so many of the great movies of 2011, this one deals with loss (same as The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely and Incredibly, 50/50, even The Muppets).  But there are also moments of joy and healing, moments that completely caught me off-guard.  In fact, I just watched the movie again on DVD and was surprised by one of those amazing moments.  Unlike those other movies, many that I love, this one catches the beauty along with the pain, maybe even the beauty in light of and in spite of the pain.  So much so that maybe the people in the story will find themselves “telling stories again.”

If you get the chance, check the movie out.  It’s worth seeing.  Maybe not as subtle as others, which is okay.  But it crosses a border few movies did last year, a border that should be crossed more often.