We Bought a Zoo - Movie trailerCameron Crowe goes all "family" on us for the holiday movie season with his big screen adaptation of Benjamin Mee's book titled We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives Forever.

Thankfully, the title has been shortened to just We Bought a Zoo, but after looking at the trailer (which you can see below), what apparently remains are all the overwrought, schmaltzy, sentimentalisms and over-acted characters who say things that sound like quotes from a movie. But to be fair, this is a film being marketed to families for the Christmas holiday, so it'll probably fly perfectly for its intended audience.

The film stars Matt Damon as a single dad who moves his family to the countryside after deciding he needs a reboot on life. There's a twist however, when he finds out that their perfect little slice of heaven is actually a zoo with dozens of exotic animals. With the help of an even more exotic staff (including Scarlett Johansson), the family manages to return the zoo to its former glory.

We Bought a Zoo includes an ensemble cast of veterans and up-and-comers alike, including Thomas Hayden Church, Elle Fanning, Stephanie Szostak, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, and Patrick Fugit. Let's hope Crowe returns to his glory days (anything before Elizabethtown) and brings us something as relevant and meaningful as his Almost Famous. From the looks of things though, all we're going to get is a properly marketed "aww shucks" film with enough broad appeal to satisfy the masses. And what more could you ask from a family film at Christmastime?

You can watch the new trailer for We Bought a Zoo below (or head over to Apple to see it in HD) and under that is the film's poster. Fox will bring We Bought a Zoo to theaters in wide release on December 23rd, of this year. Looks like you're going to need the hankies.

We Bought a Zoo - Movie trailer