Ace Ventura 2: Um Maluco na África

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.

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.

Well, then god help you. I've known people who are not big fans of Jim Carey's style of comedy and I can see their point. He's just outrageous and rarely witty. But this movie has a bit of everything: clever dialogues, beautiful locations, and of course Jim Carey at his very best.

I find it much funnier than any of his other works. The Mask had too few of the 'mask' scenes, Pet Detective was just about OK, nothing great. This movie though is better because the story flows freely(unlike P.D) and it has a lot of Jim Carey (unlike The Mask). The scene at the monastery is actually brilliantly shot and to have such OTT comedy at what otherwise seems so mystical a location, I've never seen something like that. And lastly, yes it may seem a bit absurd, it's Ace's love for animals that comes out quite well. To have gone to a seclusion for losing a racoon(he was not paid to find anyways) is both hilarious and heart warming.

The rhino scene alone would've made this one of my favorite comedies, but there's so much more on offer.

8/10

Jim Carrey is at it again! This time our hero Ace Ventura goes out of retirement and ventures into Africa to investigate a rare white bat and has to go up against a big game hunter and his henchmen who have stolen the bat. And Ace is grossed out and frightened of bats! Ace Ventura When Nature Calls is just as witty and hilarious as it's predessessor.

My favorite scenes were when Ace captured Quinn, and 'tormented' him by trying to make him talk about the whereabouts of the white bat.

And who can forget seeing Jim Carrey driving a monster truck shouting, "Nobody wants to play with me"! And a lot of other scenes that I can't describe because it was all funny! Other Carrey fans might agree too if they had seen all his movies!

Give Ace Ventura parts 1 and 2 a chance! Those movies deserve to be watched, unless of course you don't like comedies! ;) And I completely understand why some people wouldn't like him or his humor and that's fine with me. Heck, Jim Carrey is so popular, that during the theatrical releases of some of his earlier movies later on became animated series for the younger generation of fans! A great movie to watch with family, friends, and fellow Jim Carrey fans! I give both Ace Ventura movies 4 stars!

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.