Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
1995 · Directed by Steve Oedekerk
Original language: English
- crime
- comedy
- adventure
The story
Summoned from an ashram in Tibet, Ace finds himself on a perilous journey into the jungles of Africa to find Shikaka, the missing sacred animal of the friendly Wachati tribe. He must accomplish this before the wedding of the Wachati's Princess to the prince of the warrior Wachootoos. If Ace fails, the result will be a vicious tribal war.
What it’s like
Bright, saturated jungle greens and sunburnt savanna under hard tropical sun, shot in busy, wide frames so Jim Carrey's rubbery contortions and sight gags fill every corner of the screen. The sound is loud and cartoonish: exaggerated squelches, boings and slide whistles over a bouncy orchestral score, with quieter moments broken by a sudden goofy face. The vibe is brash, silly and unapologetically juvenile. It suits a Friday night with friends, a comfort rewatch for anyone who grew up on 90s slapstick, or a scatterbrained evening when you want to laugh at nothing much. The pace is relentless, one gag stacked on the next, following an eccentric detective who slowly learns to trust the animals and people around him. Intensity is low: slapstick falls, chases and scuffles with no gore, but plenty of crude bodily humour, toilet jokes and suggestive innuendo. The tribal characters are broadly caricatured, and those portrayals now feel dated and uncomfortable, so it is a poor fit for anyone wanting sensitive representation. Made for people who want big, goofy laughs and don't mind a crude, dated edge.
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