Fierce Creatures

Fierce Creatures

List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $6.47
You Save: $8.51 (57%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.38 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

DVD details

DVD Reviews of Fierce Creatures

DVD Review: "Creatures" is lovable and cuddly
Summary: 4 Stars

The movie opens with Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis) coming to work at Octopus Inc., a massive multi-corporation owned by the semi-psychopath Rod McCain, or as he is known there, "Rod Almighty." Willa has to deal with the devious associate Neville (Bille Brown) and McCain's annoying son Vince (Kevin Kline, who also plays Rod), who spends a great deal of time trying to seduce her. She petitions Rod to let her manage a zoo he acquired in England, and gets to go -- if she brings Vince with her.

In England, new director Rollo Lee displays a new moneymaking tactic to the dismayed animal keepers: Only dangerous animals are allowed at the zoo, and anything cute, cuddly, herbivorous, and unable to bite off major appendages is history. The keepers desperately try to convince him that anteaters, bandicoots, tarantulas and lemurs can be vicious, unaware that he is secretly keeping the animals in his home.

But things degenerate even further when Vince and Willa arrive. Vince despises animals unless they entertain him, and soon turns the zoo into a mess of weird costumes and media endorsements. Willa and Rollo dig deeper into shady dealings and corporate psychosis -- only to have a new mess of problems rear their ugly heads.

The cast for this movie is truly inspired: Cleese plays the desperate, Basil-Fawlty-esque director of the zoo, who has a secret soft spot for animals while trying to maintain the appearance of toughness. Michael Palin plays a motormouthed tarantula keeper with encyclopedic knowledge on everything. Kevin Kline plays both father and son so well that it's almost astonishing that Rod and Vince aren't played by different people. Ronnie Corbett is a lesser but still hilarious as the tiny Reggie Sea Lions.

The humor is outrageously funny, especially when it is either clever or farcical: Vince and Willa hearing Rollo's frantic words to the animals: "Get off the bed!" "Ow, don't pull!" "Stop licking my-" and "Go play with each other!"; the hide-the-body sequence late in the film, which has a frenzied energy that will make people roll in the aisles; the keepers faking elaborate injuries; the scene where Terry the tarantula gets loose, causing Cub and Rollo to desperately strip off in a closet; a repeat of Cleese's "light switch" joke; and the following scene where Willa looks into the half-naked Rollo's room, finds a sheep and a pair of very embarrassed women, one of them half-naked as well, and comes to the obvious conclusion. And the scene where police officers are assaulted by zookeepers in big stupid-looking animal costumes is absolutely priceless.

What is not funny? Well, the fart jokes got old before they even started. And Jamie Lee Curtis lacks any amusing qualities whatsoever: she doesn't have a funny moment in the entire movie. While every other character has some individual quirks or humiliating moments that make them more human and understandable, Willa Weston doesn't. She's a plastic Barbie doll. Which brings up another pet peeve: So much attention is paid to Willa flashing her cleavage at Vince and Rollo. Her role could have easily been filled by a Wonderbra. She's a far cry from Carey Lowell's Cub, a smart, pretty and active woman who maintains the respect of the viewers. And the sentimental flashes only bog down the plot, such as Curtis's reminiscing about a gorilla.

Despite these flaws, "Fierce Creatures" is a hilarious comedy that, though it sags a bit in the middle, becomes outrageously funny near the end. Cleese, Kline and Palin are at their best here, and you'll walk away with a new appreciation for the shooting skills of lemurs.

Description of Fierce Creatures