Zoo Life (1992 animated film)

Zoo Life is a 1992 Canadian-American traditionally animated comedy film directed by Canadian animator Joe Brian (his directorial debut film). The film revolves around a zoo whose animals become lively, city-type, talking animals after the zoo closes, and their plans to prevent the zookeeper from losing his job and the zoo from being closed down and converted into a shopping center.

The film was produced by Hyperion Pictures and Lacewood Productions and released in North America on February 28, 1992 by 20th Century Fox.

This film predates DreamWorks' Madagascar by 13 years, a film with a similar idea about zoo life, although both films have different plots. Also, the film has similar ideas to the 2011 film Zookeeper.

Release dates

 * February 28 1992 (USA & Canada)
 * March 6 1992 (Philippines)
 * April 3 1992 (UK & Ireland)
 * April 16 1992 (Singapore)
 * May 1 1992 (Malaysia)
 * June 11 1992 (Germany)
 * June 12 1992 (Austria & Switzerland)
 * June 18 1992 (Israel)
 * June 26 1992 (South Africa)
 * July 1 1992 (France)
 * July 2 1992 (Netherlands)
 * July 9 1992 (Turkey)
 * July 17 1992 (Australia & New Zealand)
 * July 25 1992 (Japan)
 * July 31 1992 (Brazil)
 * August 7 1992 (Spain & Portugal)
 * October 2 1992 (Denmark)
 * October 9 1992 (Poland)
 * October 15 1992 (Czechoslovakia)
 * November 6 1992 (Finland)
 * November 20 1992 (Sweden)
 * November 26 1992 (Argentina)
 * December 4 1992 (Chile)

Summary
Every day, after the zoo closes for the night, the animals communicate with one another, talking like streetwise, smooth-talking city people. Lately, the zoo's attendance has been declining because of too many other attractions in the area and the kindly zookeeper Joseph (voiced by Joe Brian himself) is going to lose his job and the zoo will have to close down to make way for a shopping center.

However, Nero the Lion decides to help Joseph (albeit putting their secret life at risk) and formulate a plan to drive away the greedy landlord and the corrupt property management company and keep the zoo booming with patrons.

Cast

 * Joe Brian - Joseph, the zookeeper
 * John Travolta - Nero, the lion
 * Jodie Foster - Hilary, the lioness
 * Mel Brooks - Roland, the rhinoceros
 * Cloris Leachman - Edna, the snowy owl
 * Dom DeLuise - Pablo, the elephant
 * Christopher Walken - Samuel, the white tiger
 * Whoopi Goldberg - Charlene, the cheetah
 * Anthony Hopkins - Pliny, the old elephant
 * Tony Jay - Landon D. Lewis, the landlord
 * Tim Curry - Buck Fargo, the property management proprietor

Release & reception
The film got mixed, mostly good, reviews from critics. Roger Ebert gave it three stars out of four, and praised the film for its clever jokes, colorful animation and voice acting but felt the plot was crowded with numerous subplots. Audiences, however, were much more positive towards the film and it has a good cult following as of 2013.

Out of a $20 million budget, the film grossed $19,567,890 in North America and $12.5 million internationally, accumulating more $31 million worldwide.

Video game
The film was adapted into a positively-reviewed SNES and Sega Genesis game and a well-received Game Boy game by Capcom on March 2, 1992, after the film's opening weekend. A poorly-reviewed NES game was developed by LJN Ltd,

The SNES/Genesis game was developed by Realtime Associates.