BEFORE: Yeah, I was also busy in 1995. Plus I hadn't seen the first "Ace Ventura" film, so that gave me another reason to not see this one. Let's get it off the list. This is another set of films that "everyone" has seen, except me, or so it seems.
Obviously, Jim Carrey carries over, along with his monkey. This is the end of the chain for monkeys and apes - a solid showing for the primates. But it's also my link to the next chain, picking up on the detective aspect of "Pet Detective".
THE PLOT: Pet detective Ace Ventura comes out of retirement to investigate the disappearance of a rare white bat, the symbol of an African tribe.
AFTER: Ugh, this just isn't my style of humor. I barely tolerated "Dumb & Dumber" last year. Silly sells, which I never really understand. Why did Jim Carrey succeed as a movie star, but another comedian, say, Carrot Top, failed miserably? Why is there a Pauly Shore for every Will Ferrell?
I'm having trouble with a film that mostly makes fun of African tribesmen, which seems more than a little racist. Don't they all talk so funny, with their funny nonsense words, ha ha? Don't they have odd customs like spitting and eating weird foods? It's even worse than the first film, which found humor at the expense of gay and transgendered people. So this franchise is both racist AND homophobic, so I guess 1995 was a much less enlightened time? Or maybe the filmmakers just aren't very sensitive.
I don't know what to make of "Ace Ventura", honestly. He seems to have some of the deduction skills of Sherlock Holmes, but he's also a moron. He loves animals but seems to have no social skills whatsoever. He makes a ton of bumbling mistakes, yet always finds a way to crack the case and succeed. Only in the movies, I guess...
NITPICK POINT: Who's taking care of Ace Ventura's pets while he's in Tibet, and then Africa? If he really cared for these animals, why would he leave them alone? They're liable to eat each other, and how is that a good thing?
NITPICK POINT #2: Ace loves animals - ALL animals. Except bats, for some reason. I realize this is meant to be funny, but if you're a true animal lover, would you find any of them disgusting? Animal doctors don't choose to treat only the cute ones, for example.
Also starring Simon Callow (last seen in "A Room With a View"), Ian McNeice, Bob Gunton (last seen in "Elvis Meets Nixon"), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (last seen in "Congo"), Bruce Spence (last seen in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"), Tommy Davidson.
RATING: 3 out of 10 Land Rovers
No comments:
Post a Comment