Cameron Crowe aims for the heart in 'We Bought a Zoo' trailer

Posted Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 3:38 PM Central
Last updated Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 3:39 PM Central

by John Couture

At first blush, the trailer for We Bought a Zoo plays like a cross between Jerry Maguire and Jersey Girl. Heck, the only thing missing from that one scene is a goldfish and had it been there, I would've screamed "robbery!"

But can you really steal from yourself?

Cameron Crowe makes endearing movies that tug at your heartstrings, so it's not surprising to find similar motifs if not downright the same scenes in his movies. It really makes you wonder what Crowe's own departure from Rolling Stone to head off to make movies was like. If these on-screen depictions are anywhere close, then I bet it was doozy.

Like Jersey Girl, Matt Damon plays a single Dad who is dealing with the loss of his wife and the stark reality that raising children alone is a very daunting task. Unlike Kevin Smith though, I doubt there will be any long masturbation conversations between Damon and Scarlett Johansson. Although I could be wrong. I so hope that I'm wrong.

More likely however, given Crowe's track record, this movie will fall safely into the PG-13 realm and should be the feel-good movie of Christmas. Of course, Cameron Crowe did give us the glorious Phoebe Cates bikini scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, so you just never know.

We Bought a Zoo hits theaters on December 23, 2011. The trailer is below and we've included the second most sought after ScarJo pictures to hit the Internet this week.