Fierce Creatures

This isn't a very important film so I'll be brief in what I have to say. Fierce Creatures is a generally amusing and quite enjoyable comedy. It stars the same four leads as did the 1988 hit, `A Fish Called Wanda' and even contains some in-jokes on that same film.

While never groundbreaking or thought provoking, Fierce Creatures does what it says it should do. The concept is quite imaginative, the four leads perform their roles superiorly and there is an impeccable comic timing.

Those with low expectations will come out very satisfied, and while it's easy to nit-pick and find faults, Fierce Creatures is a very good film that's not to be taken very seriously. 6.9 out of 10.

"Fierce Creatures" was marketed as a somewhat adventurous endeavour in teaming up much of the old team from the highly acclaimed "A Fish called Wanda" to do another film that was completely different and had nothing the same, except much of the cast.

Does this have the same sparkle? The short answer is no, but it is still good viewing. It tells the story of a highly greedy and successful business magnate, Rod McCain (Kevin Kline) who has just taken over a zoo in England. However, business regulations require that the zoo return 20% of revenue or it will be shut down. Put in charge is Rollo Lee (John Cleese), who is then somewhat overthrown by new recruit Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis) and McCain's 'idiot' son Vince (also Kline). Essentially the film deals with the three of the new directors and their different schemes for making money and raising the revenue to 20%, but with plenty of sexual tension and comedies of error along the way.

It's a lot of fun, I think I've made that clear. It's by no means the best comedy put on film but it has a lot of the same laughs as a normal Cleese-written comedy; in some ways the character of Rollo Lee is very much like the character of Basil Fawlty. Kline is brilliantly hilarious as usual, he's the standout, while Curtis, Michael Palin, Robert Lindsay and Ronnie Corbett all give spirited performances. It's also nice for an Aussie to see Bille Brown making his big screen debut as the terrible right-hand man Neville.

Overall, it's an above average piece of writing, directing and performing that gives you a laugh. Perfect for a night in. 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

This movie failed at the box office because it was mistakenly assumed to be a sequel to "A Fish Called Wanda," just because it contained the same starring cast. That's a crying shame, because not only is it irrelevant to Wanda, it's a good 10 to 15 times better. Wanda was about two pairs of crooks(American and British) with annoying hang-ups who try to pull off a huge heist in London. In this movie, the cast tries to protect a zoo from a corporate takeover which will ruin it. The company in charge wants the zoo to get rid of all their cuddly animals and focus completely on,...well you can guess by the title. Michael Palin's character is nowhere near as pathetic as in "Wanda," and Kevin Kline's character(or at least one of them) is someone you can be far more sympathetic with. Plus the ending is much happier.

Pick this one over "A Fish Called Wanda" the next time you're browsing through the DVD sales rack. You'll be better off with it.

This movie is fun, engaging, bright, and positive. In spite of some grave misgivings when I started to watch, I was definitely engaged with this farcical comedy. I have finally figured out why I was so taken with it--the animal actors!

Part of the appreciation of a work almost always is due to the sympathy one feels for the characters. That sympathy is won primarily by assorted Lemurs, Ostriches, Roos, etc. in this film.

I rather fail to see how anyone couldn't find this film funny. It still makes me laugh uproariously every time I see it, and I've seen it many, many times.

Special congratulations must go to Cleese and Kline, both of whom give exceptional performances, and there is a real sense of joy that comes through from the various situations in which these characters find themselves. Although Cleese's character is somewhat 'Fawlty-esque', and let's face it - this is what he does best, I found it thoroughly enjoyable.

Jamie lee Curtis and Michael Palin do equally well, though Palin's character is almost as frustrating / annoying as was his role in 'Wanda', but I don't think this detracts from the enjoyability factor of the film.

This is an uplifting, and heart-warming affair, packed full of laughs, but with a more than reasonable plot line, and I really liked the ending, which cleverly capitalizes on Klines excellent character acting.

If I had to level any sort of criticism at 'Fierce creatures', it would be in the soundtrack department - i just didn't think it was as good as it could have been - but this makes little difference to the overall flow of the film, and I have no hesitation in awarding it 9.5 out of 10, and recommending it to anyone that enjoys a well made and endearing, quality comedy.