Fierce Creatures (1997)

Best movie of this year hands down!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I and so many others loved A Fish Called Wanda, and the question was whether there would be A Fish Called Wanda 2, as the whole world wanted to see Cleese, Kline, Curtis and Palin reunite because of their fantastic chemistry. I read that John Cleese was hoping a "sequel" would be along the tradition of the Carry On movies where the same troupe of cast members would be in a different setting but kind of the same comedic style. Maybe focus groups were conducted and the audience were kind of confused about the concept behind Fierce Creatures, so a genius make up with the line in the cinema trailer "It's not a sequel, it's an equal." Kind of neat if you know I mean.The IMDb plot line for Fierce Creatures is: "Zookeepers struggle to deal with the policies of changing directors." Not sure if it's a coincidence, but Australian Fred Schepsi was brought in as the new director following initial test screenings, as the original director Robert Young was unavailable for reshoots. Also a new director of photography, Australian Ian Baker came on board, replacing the legendary Adrian Biddle, who had an impressive resume as director of photography.Who knows, maybe one day Cleese, Kline, Curtis and Palin can reunite for a third film in the tradition of the Carry On movies. It's never too late when it comes to sequels, I mean equals.

Given that the central premise is shaky - animal-lovers resisting the commercialization of leisure time, in this case zoos? - this gentle, well-meaning film still ought to be a lot funnier than it is. It's quite cleverly written, chock full of funny actors and fierce creatures, but the whole thing comes across as a trifle half-hearted, especially amongst the supporting cast. The animals certainly play their part, but there ought to be more gags, really. Is the film trying to make a serious point? If so, it rather gets lost in the edit. Cleese reprises his Fawlty-esque persona to good effect and Kevin Kline is brilliant, as ever. But the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Maybe the director wasn't snappy enough? Still, it's all good fun - and on re-viewing seems rather better than the first time you saw it.

Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis) is the new executive in Octopus Inc. run by Rod McCain (Kevin Kline). She joins with Rod's son Vince (Kevin Kline) to manage the newly acquired zoo. Rollo Lee (John Cleese) starts out as the director sent by Octopus to raise profit margin to 20%. His idea is to have only fierce creatures. The shocked zookeepers dare Rollo to kill some of the non-fierce creatures. He pretends to and instead keeps the animals at his place. Willa and Vince mistakenly thinks that Rollo is a ladies man. After an incident, Rollo is demoted. Willa is still fascinated by Rollo's supposed womanizing and Vince has even crazier ideas for the zoo.This is a real disappointment and a giant step down from the same crew that made 'A Fish Called Wanda'. It's a lot of wackiness without being funny. The story is completely stupid without being funny. The characters are all crazy without being funny. It's like the gang decided to pile on wacky things on top of wacky things. But none of it is funny. If it has any chance, the movie should have started in the zoo. The opening at the corporate office is a waste of time that achieved nothing.

If you like "A Fish Called Wanda," you'll probably get a kick out of this farce, in which an Australian magnate sends two Americans to a British zoo to make it turn a profit. The bad guys are Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and John Cleese, at least until Curtis and Cleese fall for each other.Cleese intends to make money from the zoo by offing all the cuddly little animals and replacing them with "fierce creatures." The tree huggers who run the zoo and love all the animals try to convince the dim-witted Cleese that the cuddly things are in actuality deadly when provoke, telling him tales of people who have torn to shreds by an angry lemur and other nonsense.Cleese is persuaded not to kill the animals but he advertises them all as Dangerous to Man and, to boost profits, drags in merchandising in various forms. A fully grown Bengal tiger wears a kind of table cloth advertising Absolute Vodka with the logo Absolute -- FIERCE. A brand new panda is installed but it's a robot and all it can do is slowly raise and lower its head.Other absurdities abound, some funnier than others. Curtis, wearing a very low-cut dress and a smile, bends down to pet a coati mundi or something and the distracted Cleese mutters, "Yes, that's one of our breast mammaries -- er, best mammals." The whole set-up is in a way a distraction. Everything seems to rush by. People fall down. It's a little exhausting and lacks some of the earnest wit of "A Fish Called Wanda." There is no line here that's the equivalent of, "The philosophy of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself.'" Still, it has some laugh-out-loud moments, at least for me. I think the one I enjoyed most appears near the end. Kevin Kline has been playing the grasping and nasty Australian billionaire with a farcical Australian accent, and also playing the billionaire's son. The elderly billionaire shows up at the zoo, discovers the fraud and confronts his son, whom he holds responsible. Says the ruthless magnate, "The last words you'll hear from me is --" A shot rings out from off screen and a bullet hole appears in the Australian's forehead. Without any change in his expression and after only the slightest pause, he continues, "you're fiiirrred." But his voice has slowed down and become baritone, like a tape recorder with dying batteries. Holding the same angry posture he slowly flops backwards to the grass, a mannequin, evoking images of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad.