South-Korean comedy “Secret Zoo” sees a popular webtoon (“I Don't Bully You”) translated to the big screen. While opening at number one on its opening weekend, the film quickly lost steam with a 77% drop the following week, and it is no surprise as it is not really sure what it wants to be.
“Secret Zoo” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
The story follows Kang Tae-soo (Ahn Jae-Hong), a new lawyer looking to make a name for himself within his company, who gets tasked with overseeing a failing zoo. He has three months to prove he knows what he is doing. He quickly learns he is in over his head as the Zoo has no more animals and barely any staff, apart from the old director (Park Yeong-gyu), the vet (Kang So-ra) and a few other animal keepers. The initial plan is to buy more animals but when Kang learns it would take a few months before they could even be approved for them, he realises they need to improvise, and it just so happens they know a good costume designer. So, they order a lion, sloth, Polar Bear, and gorilla costume and prepare to reopen. What could possibly go wrong?
The premise is strong: a bunch of desperate zookeepers imitating animals to make their business profitable again, and on paper it should be an easy sell, but a lot of the humour is lost as it cannot commit to a tone and overall vibe. The problem is that the film fails to lean into its more outrageous moments to make it as funny as it could be, and it fails to lean into its social messages to make it as poignant as it could be. All the standard melodrama is here but without the commitment to the characteristics that make it shine, it can never lift the emotional weight it thrives for. However, the cinematography by Lee Seung-hoon makes it easy on the eyes and the direction keeps it coherent. All the performances are strong as well, which makes it an easy watch. You will enjoy your time at the Zoo, but you wont really care to return.
Overall, “Secret Zoo” is a simple way to lose yourself for a while, as it has enough gags and ideas to keep you interested but not enough to make you remember it past its 117-minute runtime. Potential is there but ultimately it does not allow itself to go the places it feels it could.
