City Zoo

Recently widowed Benjamin (Ben) Mee (Matt Damon), still grieving his loss and dealing with school behavior issues with his 14-year-old son, Dylan (Colin Ford), decides to get a fresh start by buying a new house. After touring many houses with his daughter, Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) and his realtor and finding none to his liking, his daughter finds a paper with what seems like the perfect house he is wanting. They drive up on a beautiful old large house and as Ben inspects the property and tells his realtor it's the perfect home, the realtor tries to explain that the situation is "complicated", when they hear a lion roar outside. The realtor explains that the house comes with a zoo in the back and if they want the house, they have to buy the zoo, which closed to the public several years before. Although reluctant to take on a zoo and all of its animals, he decides to give it a try, when he sees how happy his daughter, Rosie, is playing with the peacocks. His son, Dylan, however hates the idea of moving away from his friends, and retreats into his artwork (drawings and paintings which have grown more macabre since the death of his mother). Ben's brother tries to dissuade Ben from purchasing the property, but Ben buys it anyway. The zoo staff, led by head keeper, Kelly (Scarlett Johansson), help Benjamin to start renovating the zoo with the intent to reopen the zoo to the public. When Kelly confronts Ben about why he would buy a zoo, knowing nothing about how to, Ben thinks about it and responds, "Why not?" Meanwhile, Dylan befriends a young homeschooled girl named Lily (Elle Fanning) who works at the zoo, and has a huge crush on him, to which he is completely oblivious.
A strict USDA inspector, Walt Ferris (John Michael Higgins), shows up for a surprise inspection and makes a large list of repairs that would cost around $100,000 to do. Benjamin runs into financial trouble with all the expenses of running the zoo and does not have the money needed for the