Feeling the Call of the Wild

When last we checked in with Ace Ventura, it was 1994 and he’d just rescued the Miami Dolphins’ mascot, Snowflake, in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. That film was a massive and unexpected hit, released in February of that year (during what would normally be the dead zone for movie theaters, when all the garbage was thrown out to die), and it went on to make $107.2 Mil against its $15 Mil budget. Production studio Morgan Creek Productions had dollar signs in their eyes, and they wanted to capitalize on the success of Ace, fast-tracking a sequel to come out as soon as was physically possible.

That meant in November, 1995, less than two years after the first film came out. Jim Carrey was booked for the sequel, but none of the other cast were required. The film set off to be bigger, broader, and more Ace Ventura than we’d seen before. And, of course, the thought process was simple: people love Ace Ventura so let’s give them what they want. All they really wanted was Ace so why bother with anything else? And, in a way, it worked, as the film went on to gross an astonishing $212.4 Mil against its inflated $30 budget. As far as Hollywood was concerned, that’s money well spent.

But while the studio was likely happy with the result, in the long run fans and critics were not. The film performed even worse with critics than the first, with it clearly being the case that fans were on board simply because they couldn’t get enough Jim Carrey and were willing to take him in whatever film featured the actor. He was big money back in the 1990s, and anything with his face went on to make solid money. Still, going back and watching this film again, I can see not only why critics were turned off by the film but also why a third, official film in the series (we are not counting Ace Ventura, Jr.: Pet Detective in this discussion) never saw the light of day. This film simply isn’t that good.

In the film, Ace (Carrey) ends up at a Tibetan temple after he fails to rescue a racoon from a plane crash on top of a mountain. This loss sends Ace to the ashram, where he commits himself to become a holy man (much to the annoyance of the other monks at the temple). However, Ace is pulled from his spiritual meditation when a man working for the British Consulate in Nibia, Fulton Greenwall (Ian McNeice), comes to the ashram to enlist Ace’s help. It seems that a sacred white bat that is the protector of a tribe in Nibia has been stolen, and if the bat isn’t found, that tribe will go to war with another tribe, likely leading to all their deaths.

Ace takes the case and, once he’s in Nibia, he sets to work on the case. This leads to all the expected antics from Ace: funny voices, funny walking, being an absolute ass to everyone around him. At the same time, though, Ace gets results. His keen investigative skills, as well as impressive knowledge of nature and animals quickly set him on the path to finding who has the bat. The only question is why? Who would benefit if these two tribes kill each other? Once Ace has that answer he’ll have the whole case solved… If he survives that long.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls feels like a rewarmed, less interesting version of the first film. It has the same kinds of antics, the same kind of performance from Carrey, but it lacks the charm (such as there was) of the first film. It’s clear that the production on this team felt that what was needed was more Ace, being as big and whacky as he could be, and that’s what drove not only the story but also the performance from Carrey. It’s big and broad and loud, but that actually makes it all less funny than the first film because it feels like it’s trying too hard to recapture the magic of the first movie.

Something key about the first film that Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls doesn’t seem to understand is that Ace is only really funny when he has people to play off of. In the first movie he was paired up with Courteney Cox's Melissa Robinson for many scenes in the film, and her reactions to his performance were part of the fun, like a straight man trying to keep a lunatic in check. While Ian McNeice’s Greenwall would, in theory, play the same role, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls removes the character for huge stretches of the film, leaving Ace to play by himself, and it’s less fun. Carrey has to do more heavy lifting, and his character doesn’t have the strength to pull that off.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls also lacks a strong villain. The sequel is a mystery, like the first film, but that first adventure made the villain (spoilers: Lt. Lois Einhorn / Ray Finkle) a major player in many scenes. The villain here (also, spoiler) is the British Consulate, Vincent Cadby (Simon Callow), but much like with Greenwall, he’s barely in the film. It’s hard to get invested in a mystery when all the major players, suspects, red herrings, and the like, are barely around at all. A sleazy performance from Callow to sell the Consulate as a bad dude would have helped to keep the film lively and let Ace’s antics play well against the villain. None of that happens here.

That leaves the film feeling like a collection of (sometimes) funny scenes, strung together with a lot of filler. Ace mugs, makes funny voices, and generally acts like an obnoxious buffoon for an hour and a half all while Carrey desperately tries to inject any energy into the proceedings. You get the vibe that this was a contractual obligation for Carrey, a paycheck movie he had to do because the first film was a huge success (which is probably another reason why a third official film hasn’t been made yet, likely because Carrey wasn’t contractually obligated to make it). He doesn’t seem to be having as much fun, nor is he doing his best work. His performance screams, “I just want this to not suck so I can then get off this ride.”

With all that said, some of the scenes are pretty damn funny. There are certain line readings that Carrey does that are spot on, leading to solid laughs. There’s one sequence where, after confronting a woman about the furs she’s wearing, he punches out her date and wears him around the party like a mink stole, which is just so perfectly executed. And there’s the famous sequence where, somehow, Ace gets a mechanical rhino which he uses to spy on the bad guys, only to then get locked in it in the unbearable heat of the African sun. This leads to him fighting his way out of the rear of the rhino, looking like it’s giving birth to a human. It’s disgusting and hilarious, so over the top you can understand why this is the one scene everyone remembers.

And in fairness, this film also does something right that the first film failed at: it’s not horrendously offensive to any minority group. It doesn’t gay bash, or trans bash, or make fun of those communities (unlike the first movie). It also, somehow, tries to be as culturally sensitive to the African tribes as it can. It doesn’t mock them, doesn’t make them seem backwards or underdeveloped. They have their own customs and beliefs and, by and large, Ace respects those. Sure, in the grand scheme it probably still makes them look backwards, but it never outright says anything mean about them. It’s surely not the best representation of these groups but, in comparison to the first film, it does a much better job. Low bar, I know, but we take what we can get.

Overall Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls is a weaker, less funny film than the first movie. It gets a couple of things right but gets so much else wrong. In the long run I really don’t foresee myself watching either of these films again. One of them is hilarious until it turns patently offensive, while the other is less funny but also less of a hate crime. Neither is good, though, and now that I’ve watched them both I think I can set them aside and ignore them for another few decades.