Fierce Creatures(1997)- User Reviews

Even though it wasn't as good as "A Fish Called Wanda", "Fierce Creatures" (not necessarily a sequel to "A Fish Called Wanda", but the leading performers from this movie are back again, in roughly the same scenarios they were in,in the previous film they were in together). A lot of people noticed just like I did that John Cleese's comedic timing was at half-mast, he still remains as one of the greatest comic actors in our time. What makes this film shine is the goodness in nature and light in content making it very hard for one to dispise.
The plot of the story though is very confusing that the film is like a jumble of brainstorms rather than a straightforward story. But, behind this jumble "Fierce Creatures" filled with many brilliant ideas, making this convolution forgiven. John Clesse stars as Rollo Lee, an former cop gets a job from a conglomerate called Octopus Inc. owned by Rod McCain (Kevin Kline), which merged with London's poorly financed Marwood Zoo. However, the zoo has a lack of any interest to Octopus Incorporated's business, unless a certain rate is profitted to them. For the human race's love for blood, Rollo decides that only the dangerous animals are to remain in the zoo (thus the title "Fierce Creatures"). Things get turned around when Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Vince McCain (Kevin Kline again) make their presence felt as they decide to take over Rollo's job (but still keep him working at the zoo). The elder McCain contemplates on corporate sponsorship as a way to keep the zoo running. Therefore all the zookeepers are forced to where silly animal costumes, and producing robotic animals inside their cages. While this is happening, a romantic angle between Rollo and Willa takes form and the two pair up to put at stop to the madness of this evil corporation before everything else in this zoo becomes utterly chaotic.
This film has this magnetic force that will keep its audience glued to their seats. But one of the main flaws about "Fierce Creatures" is that the plot is very unsettling. The plot constantly keeps switching from one situation to another, therefore the impact is hard to get at. However, even though the "Fierce Creatures" idea is coughed up early in the film, it doesn't fail in terms of execution. When the lovable zoo employees regard even the cute animals as being dangerous, like the meercat, it's one of the funniest scenes in the movie. And when Mr.McCain and his group of corporate shrills come up with a scatterbrained scheme to operate the zoo via corporate sponsorship was equally funny as well. What I'm getting it is though the focus in "Fierce Creatures" is absent, it makes up for it in terms of providing plenty of entertainment and loads of laughs making this movie very satisfying to watch.
The performances are a compliment to the entertainment value. Jamie Lee Curtis is cheerfully sultry as a business woman who lures men with her seductive ways to get to the top of the corporate ladder. John Cleese's manic comic timing is taken down a notch, but no one can portray neurotic better than Cleese. Just like in "A Fish Called Wanda", it's Kevin Kline that steals the show as he plays a dual role as the slimy corporate shrill and his dim-witted son who has his ideas on how to the run the zoo and to find a way to get into Weston's arms. The over-the-top energy in Kline and the constant switch from corporate father and dimwitted son is a tribute to the multiple roles Peter Sellers performed in "Dr. Strangelove". But more importantly, if it wasn't for the dual role by Kline, this movie might have never worked the way it did.
If I can best this describe the intentions of "Fierce Creatures", it would be a nice uplifting in spirit and nothing short. Though not a masterpiece compared to "A Fish Called Wanda", but it shows that the leading actors from "Wanda" had never lost their touch in terms of comical timing and the gags are a joy to listen to.