Ace Ventura: Un loco en África

Despite being retired since a cliff top incident with a racoon, Ace comes out of retirement to help find a missing sacred bat that is the symbol of peace between two African tribes. However he finds things are not all as it seems.

The sequel to the first film was never going to be a fantastically inventive affair but rather more of the same, albeit not as fresh or different. The plot is almost meaningless and certainly not important to enjoying the film. The comedy is everything and it almost manages to make for a good film. Opening with an inspired and hilarious Cliff Hanger spoof followed by a reference to William Shatner's episode of the Twilight Zone, the film fails to really keep it up and slips into relying wholeheartedly on Carrey's mugging.

Mostly this is funny but it is less sophisticated than the first film (if it's possible to describe the first film as that!). The jokes become more about the faces he pulls than about any invention in the dialogue or writing. As such you'll like this or hate it based on how you like Carrey when he is manic. I like him when I'm in the mood and laughed pretty regularly here.

Carrey of course carries the film with ease but also has famous support like he did in the first film. However they are not given as much to do and are of less value – Callow, Gunton and McNeice are not that missed when off-screen. Of curiosity value are several British actors playing Nigerians – Akinnuoye-Agbaje is better known as the amazing actor from Oz on HBO and is given nothing to do here, meanwhile Okonedo is pretty and humorous for those of us who know her better for her gritty role in Clocking Off on BBC1.

Overall anyone watching this should just be aware of what they are getting – it's a silly comedy that is totally reliant on Carrey's mugging to carry it. If you're not in the mood for that then avoid – but even if you are then you should be aware that it still might not be that good a film.

The same again, except now in an exotic location.

If you can stomach at all Carrey's unfiltered shenanigans where subtlety is the greatest sin then this passes the time pleasantly but forgettable, good for weekday night or maybe just killing time on a Saturday morning with your poptarts.

The mystery is enjoyable enough and well thought through enough, the animal presence is impeccable and I love the local color.

I didn't get the impression of it being too culturally insensitive.

There isn't really a character arc but you wouldn't really want one. Ventura helps forgive himself for something so there is that.

I'm glad that no characters other than him return.

Ace Venture: When Nature Calls (1995) is a movie in my DVD collection that I recently rewatched on Tubi. The storyline follows our hero, Ace, who loses one of his targets during a rescue attempt. After years of recovering in a Buddhist monastery he is approached about a job in Africa to help a tribe recover a missing sacred bat. He reluctantly takes the case and transforms back to being one of the world's greatest, and only, pet detectives.

This movie is directed by Steve Oedekerk (Nothing to Lose) and stars Jim Carey (The Mask), Ian McNeice (Valkyrie), Bob Gunton (The Shawshank Redemption), Tommy Davidson (In Living Color), Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Suicide Squad).

The storyline for this picture isn't as fun as the first film but it's still entertaining. You also lose some of the magic of discovering the Ace Ventura character for the first time. However, there's still plenty of hilarious sequences. The Monopoly guy, mechanical rhino 🦏 and Tommy Davidson fight will always be legendary. Jim Carey still delivers an amazing character and his facial expressions, mannerisms, one-liners and reactions to circumstances are fun. Ace Ventura will always be an all time great Jim Carey character.

Overall, this isn't as good as the first one, but is still worth a watch. I would score this a 8/10 and strongly recommend it.

Jim Carrey is one of those actors you will find yourself either adoring or hating. He does not ever "underact." This movie made me laugh so hard I cried (even after the fifth time!) From the robot rhino scene to the monopoly guy Jim knows how to be hilarious. I saw the first one (liked it a lot) and have to say this one is way better! I am a huge fan of Carrey. I don't think there are many people who can make such a variety of facial expressions. The only reason this is not a ten is because there is (as usual with Carrey) some inappropriate stuff thrown in. But if your love laughing and you love Jim, this movie will fit you "Like a glove!"

For those of you who suffered through awful sequels to great Jim Carrey films (Dumb And Dumberer, Son Of The Mask), you know that what was missing was Carrey himself (and good writing, and a good plot...but anyway). Carrey made this film work. Because despite a lot of problems with the writing, his talent, charisma, and delivery saved it.

This isn't a great film, but it's worth a watch every now and then. And it has some very funny scenes, that Carrey gave it his all in. What sets the difference here is that while WNC has the same problems as those aforementioned garbage sequels, the saving grace was primarily Jim Carrey himself. He can get away with over-exaggerating what made the predecessor work. This is indeed Ace Ventura cranked up to 11 on the ridiculous scale. Where he's apparently become such a deranged caricature that he can't form a coherent thought for 10 seconds, without breaking in to a weird character or impersonation. "Well, it worked for the first film!" Ugh, it gets pretty bad at times.

But still...there's something you gotta like about this movie. And maybe that's Carrey himself. Nobody else would have ever made this work. And why should they try? A character, that's been turned in to a caricature in the sequel, played by a different actor? No, it wouldn't have worked. But WNC is pretty watchable, and pretty funny. It knows it doesn't take itself seriously (check out the monster truck scene). Having seen it plenty of times growing up, it may not hold a candle to the original, but it still happens to be pretty funny. I give it a 7, which may be a little generous. But there were some legitimately great scenes in this movie. Overall, it's not great, but not bad at all. I'd say to check it out if you liked the first film.