Kevin James can be a terrific physical performer (check out his numerous prat falls on King of Queens) but for whatever reason, he's had a hard time translating his nutty shtick successfully to the big screen. True, Paul Blart, Grown ups, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry made money at the box office, but that hardly makes them good movies. While Zookeeper is hardly a masterwork, it is much more entertaining than the previously mentioned titles, and a lot of the credit has to go to James' affability as a performer. From those geniuses at Happy Madison (yes, I'm being facetious) comes this tale of a likable but unlucky in love zookeeper who gets advice from the most unlikely of places. Zookeeper is sort of like Look Who's Talking with animals.

It isn't as charming as the Amy Heckerling film, but it has enough goofy antics (the highlight would be a scene in which James bonds with a gorilla at a T.G.I. Friday's) and terrific vocal casting (the animals are voiced by the likes of Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Jon Favreau, Judd Apatow, Cher, Don Rickles, Jim Breuer, and a hilarious Nick Nolte) to squeak by on a mild recommendation. Props to Rosario Dawson who lends much needed charm as James' good friend and co-worker. Zookeeper has its groan worthy moments (there's a dull, over the top sequence in which James tries to show off at a dinner party) but the film is so off the wall bizarre, I smiled more often than I probably should have. And if the kids' reaction at the screening I attended is any indication, the movie is going to play extremely well to the under 10 crowd.