Review of Fierce Creatures (1997) by Adam S — 21 Nov 2013

"Fierce Creatures" acts as John Cleese's follow-up to the smash comedy "A Fish Called Wanda", and many of the elements are still there (notably the acting talents of Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin) but it feels slightly less fresh this time around, although that certainly doesn't preclude it from being a very funny film.

Kline is once again the stand-out actor from amongst the foursome, with his dual role as an American heir to a company, and his inexplicably New Zealander father (an obvious parody of Australian mogul Rupert Murdoch). And, also like "Wanda", not enough praise is given to Palin's role as a fast-talking zookeeper with a fondness for tarantulas.

Despite all this, there's no ultimately iconic scene, like the shooting of the dogs/John Cleese speaking Russian while naked/Michael Palin with chips up his nose scenes from Wanda. There are, however, nods to previous works of Cleese, including Cleese accidentally calling Curtis "Wanda", and Monty Python references (a spectator at a sea lion show was described as having "beautiful plumage", and John Cleese's daughter utters the line "It's only a flesh wound").

Also appearing are comedy legend Ronnie Corbett, and in the background, Jack Davenport makes his screen debut.

A fun movie, but nothing on Cleese's usual standard.