by Patrice Downing, Contributing Writer
Most of us have movie and television quotes that make up a regular part of our daily dialogue. Whether you’re counting and quoting Tim Curry’s “one plus two plus one…” from Clue, somebody unexpectedly stumbles into innuendo resulting in your shouting out Archer’s “phrasing,” or something shocking happens and you instinctively respond with Doc Brown’s “Great Scott,” quoting lines from our favorite films and series happens all the time. One of the great joys of being able to instantly blurt out the perfect quote for a situation is sharing your reply with others who also know its cinematic origins without having to explain yourself. Unfortunately for me, I regularly quote and get blank stares, if any response at all, when quoting one of my go-to rainy day favorites, Fierce Creatures.
If I had to guess, right about now you’re saying something along the lines of, “I’ve never even heard of this movie.” I’m not surprised; it quietly came and went back in 1997, lost in the shuffle of the plethora of more popular titles playing that year, like Liar, Liar, Batman and Robin, Titanic, Face/Off, Men in Black, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Con Air, leaving Fierce Creatures well in their dust back in 136th place at the domestic box office. Heck, it wasn’t even the only movie in theaters that year to star members of the core cast (Kevin Kline starred In & Out,and ironically, John Cleese voiced Ape in George of the Jungle). And while you may never have heard of Fierce Creatures until now, you have probably seen its predecessor, A Fish Called Wanda. In no way a sequel to the story, it does reunite the fantastic foursome of Cleese (also returning as a writer), Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline (Best Supporting Oscar winner for his role in Wanda), and Michael Palin.
This time around, the quirky quartet has swapped out barristers, betrayal, diamonds, double-crosses, and accidental canine cullings for corporate takeovers, inferred orgies, superfluous sponsorships, a Bond Girl, and bandicoots. The plot isn’t overly complicated: Octopus Inc, run by billionaire Kiwi, Rod McCain (Kline), has recently acquired a London zoo through a corporate merger. Retired policeman, Rollo Lee (Cleese), has been transferred to “assume command (of this zoo)” from his former Octopus Inc. position in Asia. He immediately attempts to initiate a “fierce” animals only policy, for which he is met with all manner of resistance on the part of the Marwood zoo staff, and shenanigans ensue. At the same time, Vince McCain (also played by Kline), the useless and idiotic heir apparent to the Octopus empire, is attempting to scheme his way into a financial windfall, as well as the bedroom of newly hired executive Willa Weston (Curtis). The two leave Atlanta and jet off to London to take over control of the zoo from Rollo in an effort to increase profits by an Octopus Inc. mandated 20% to avoid sale and closure of the zoo.
It’s not really the plot that makes this worth checking out — it’s the bonkers way it’s carried out. Cleese, by far, has the most absurd yet eloquent responses and declarations throughout the animal infused antics. The exchanges between Rollo and the keepers during the evaluation of fierceness amongst the clearly harmless species has me rolling every time. While walking the exhibits with Small Mammals keeper Lotterby (Robert Lindsay), Rollo has a scathing reply to chop down every argument proffered that the species are in fact fierce. Most notably, Lotterby attempts to portray meerkats not only as the “piranhas of the savannah,” but has also had all the species signage changed to portray a bloodbath of danger as he warns Rollo, “You get too close, it’ll give you a nasty nip!” to which he is rebuffed, “A safety pin would give me a nasty nip.” The quips from Cleese are nonstop right up until the end.
There’s also an ongoing gag involving Willa and Vince thinking that Rollo is a womanizing (and possibly zoophilia suffering) sex addict due to a series of increasingly ridiculous misunderstandings involving some of the cuddlier animal species from the Marwood exhibits. He gets “caught” on numerous occasions in innocent situations which, through a series of mishaps, are misconstrued as sexual encounters mostly involving Feline keeper Cub (former Bond Girl Carey Lowell) and Small Mammals keeper Pip (Cleese’s daughter Cynthia Cleese), as well as a rotating group of zoo inhabitants.
Throughout the staff’s escalating endeavors to prove the fierceness of their species to Rollo, Willa and Vince are seemingly hard at work obtaining corporate sponsorships. These attempts begin as celebrity adopt-a-species type cash grabs, and increase in tackiness and vulgarity to the point where the keepers resemble a NASCAR pit crew and the park a tech conference in a Vegas banquet hall. Willa legitimately wants to run the zoo successfully and grows irritated by Vince’s increasingly gaudy attempts at financial gain as well as his desire to sleep with her. Without spoiling specifics, the entire cast of characters ultimately has to work together in an outrageous series of events to save the zoo from being sold by Rod and leveled into a golf course. Now don’t get me wrong, the antics get a bit unrealistic, and definitely cheesy at times, but the actors all seem to be having so much fun getting there — it’s hard not to enjoy the ride. And that’s where this film really shines: Everyone from the main cast to those with bit parts of a line or two really sell it through both dialogue and physicality. You really have to watch the background, signs, and costume detailing too or you miss out on some of the more subtle humor. There’s Monty Python and A Fish Called Wanda references peppered in along with some truly ridiculous signs and set dressings. In particular, the flip chart presentation, small mammal information boards, and the alcohol sponsorship of the tiger exhibit. I’d also definitely recommend watching in closed captioning if you can, because it’s easy to miss some of the speedy banter during some of the exchanges, especially between Cleese and Palin.
So don’t let the abysmally low critics score of 53% on Rotten Tomatoes scare you away from this guffaw-worthy gem. It’s a breezy 93 minutes, and perfect for lazy day viewing when you just want a good giggle. At the very least, I promise you’ll laugh at loud the next time you visit a zoo as you walk past the meerkats and maras, and cower in fear in the presence of such Fierce Creatures.
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