Zoo: Season One

This offbeat thriller adapted from the titular 2012 bestselling novel by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge serves up a tale of animals taking over Earth. A pandemic grows from strange lion attacks in Los Angeles and bizarre, systematic prowling of creatures on the African Plain. And it doesn't stop until the world's fauna are united in war against humans. A team of five far-flung cast members spout pseudoscientific jargon and engage in twisted logic to figure things out, without much success. But no matter: this is cartoony good fun with a serious edge to the drama and action. Along the way, there are coordinated bat attacks, bears that communicate and work to corral people, and lots of talk about a sacred “mother cell” that might be a cure (distributed globally via mosquitoes, no less). The setting shuttles between Botswana, Fukushima, Rio, Paris, and Mobile, AL, and the animal special effects are particularly well done, right down to the eerie, widened pupils of infected hordes of realistic-looking CGI beasts. James Wolk is the nominal star as Dr. Oz, a researcher in Africa whose right hand is Abraham Kenyatta (Nonso Anozie). Less believable is a miscast Kristen Connolly as a brash journalist, while Nora Arnezeder as a French agent and Billy Burke as a soulful veterinarian round out the gang. Presenting all 13 episodes from the 2015 debut season, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Recommended. (T. Fry)