Review of Fierce Creatures (1997) by John E — 08 Apr 2011

Fierce Creatures is the follow-up to the vastly superior "Fish Called Wanda" and while it retains the same primary cast, it fails to retain that same comedic magic its predecessor had in spades.

All the four principals at times seem unsure as to how to handle their similar, yet different characters. A comedy with unsure characters is a comedy that will never be as funny as it could be. Palin is left with not much to do which is a damn shame as he's my favorite of the Pythons; his character is similar to his "Wanda" character in that he is the lesser of the quartet.

Kline's manic, Oscar-winning energy from the other film is more jilted and hit-or-miss. Cleese has lost some of his comic timing, but he remains quite funny as the straight man. Curtis is once again cute as a button but she too seems somewhat lost in the film's episodic procession.

Also, "Wanda" had much more character driven humor and "Fierce Creatures" repeats much of the same four or five jokes over and over the film's runtime. This reeks of laziness and is very unlike Cleese in his halcyon days of comedy.

It's best to say that the film has lots of energy and good intentions that are misguided, misdirected and often fizzle on execution. There are moments that are quite funny, but nowhere near as many as its hilarious antecedent.