Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)

Am I Missing Something?

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995): Dir: Steve Oedekerk / Cast: Jim Carrey, Ian McNeice, Simon Callow, Sophie Okonodo, Bob Gunton: Dumb comedy about the union between man and animals and the stand to preserve wildlife. It opens with a parody of Cliffhanger where Ace Ventura fails to save a raccoon stranded on a mountainside. Depressed, he secludes himself in a temple until he is summoned to Africa to find the sacred bat thus preventing a war between two tribes. Basically the same stupid concept as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective that devises predictable developments and recycled dialogue. The tribal jokes are offensive but director Steve Oedekerk allows for beautiful shots of Africa that are pretty much the best aspect of the film. In fact, watching ninety minutes of African footage on your average wildlife program would be better time spent than watching this. Jim Carrey does nothing new accept portray Ace as a bigger jackass. Ian McNeice is wasted as Ace's contact. Simon Callow plays the villain whose final scene has him molested by a gorilla. Sophie Okonodo plays the tribal Princess who encounters Ventura and allows him to pop her cherry before her wedding. This has him chased away from the village in a manner that many critics of this film may of felt. Serves only as a lame sequel and with all its idiotic mayhem it's a wonder why anyone would want to hear nature call. Score: 3 / 10

Jim Carrey returned as Ace Ventura in this sequel that sees him coming out of self-imposed exile to travel to Africa to locate a sacred white bat that is the key to peace between two warring tribes. As usual, Ace ends up causing more chaos and disruption than any war could create, though there are villains afoot who would benefit from such a war... Equally idiotic and tasteless sequel does have an amusing opening that spoofs "Cliffhanger", and one very funny scene involving him wearing "monopoly man" around his neck like a fur trophy. Otherwise, this is pretty much as poor as the first, with Carrey playing everything for the broadest comedy possible, which is what his fans cherish most about him...

The movie starts with Ace Ventura failing to rescue a raccoon in a parody of 'Cliffhanger'. He abandons everything to live in a remote Himalyan hideaway. After the Himalayas, he joins Fulton Greenwall (Ian McNeice) in a quest to find a sacred bat and avert a war between with Wachootoo and Wachati tribes.Jim Carrey is pushing the envelop with even more crazier antics than the original. There are some hilarious stuff here. Sometimes it's even smart like the parody of 'Cliffhanger'. Mostly it's all very juvenile. It has its moment but like its predecessor, this does get tiresome. A big problem is that he does a lot of it out of anger. It makes some of the jokes to fall flat. It's a very uneven movie that tired me out.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls is a great movie with a very well written storyline and a terrific comedic cast. It's a fun sequel that is much larger in scale and budget than the first one, we get to see Ace Ventura head off on an even bigger adventure this time around that takes place in some very expensive looking locations that show that the studio put some big money in to this movie, but the actors and director still get the creative freedom to make the movie they wanted thankfully. It's certainly a disappointment in comparison to the original Ace Ventura, it's not as entertaining and wacky as the first, and there aren't as many memorable moments, I also would have liked to have seen other characters other than just Ace return, particularly Courteney Cox's character would have been a welcome return. The highlight of the movie is of course Jim Carrey, it is always a delight to watch him on screen, here he is given loads of free time to run around and improvise, and the best scenes of the movie are actually the parts that have nothing to do with the actual plot, they're just Carrey being the legendary funny man he always is. Though it's certainly more forgetful than the original, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls is still a fun ride that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good comedy. Ace Ventura comes out of retirement to help find a missing bat who is the symbol of an African tribe. He soon finds himself in more trouble than he expected.Best Performance: Jim Carrey Worst Performance: Damon Standifer