Fierce Creatures (1997)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Directors:

Fred Schepisi
Robert Young

Writers:

John Cleese (writer) &
Iain Johnstone (writer)

Release Date:

24 January 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Don't pet them.

Plot:

Zookeepers struggle to deal with the policies of changing directors.

Plot Keywords:

Cult Comedy | Cult Favorite | Father Son Relationship | Gorilla | Greed

Cast

John Cleese	...	Rollo Lee
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Willa Weston
Kevin Kline	...	Vince McCain / Rod McCain
Robert Lindsay	...	Sydney Lotterby
Michael Palin	...	Adrian 'Bugsy' Malone
Ronnie Corbett	...	Reggie Sea Lions
Carey Lowell	...	Cub Felines
Bille Brown	...	Neville
Derek Griffiths	...	Garry Ungulates
Cynthia Cleese	...	Pip Small Mammals
Richard Ridings	...	Hugh Primates
Maria Aitken	...	Di Harding
Michael Percival	...	Ant Keeper
Fred Evans	...	Flamingo Keeper
Lisa Hogan	...	Sea lion Keeper

Also Known As:

Death Fish II (USA) (working title)
Créatures féroces (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Wilde Kreaturen (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Creature selvagge (Italy) [it]
Criaturas Ferozes (Portugal) [pt]
Criaturas feroces (Spain) [es]
Fészkes fenevadak (Hungary) [hu]
Ferocidade Máxima (Brazil) [pt]
Hayot Ra'ot (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Kaikkiruokaiset ystäväni (Finland) [fi]
Lemur zwany Rollo (Poland) [pl]
Otäcka odjur (Sweden) [sv]
Tromera plasmata (Greece) [el]
Vahsi yaratiklar (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Zverine (Slovenia) [sl]

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:PG-13 (certificate #34999) | South Korea:15 | Ireland:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-8 | Germany:12 (bw) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:7 | UK:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Fish Productions

Trivia:

Most of the action of the film takes place in the Marwood Zoo. Marwood is John Cleese's middle name.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Willa tells Vince she had an extraordinary experience with the gorilla, we hear her say "yesterday", but she is obviously saying "this morning".

Quotes:

Vince: I don't like you. You're weird and unattractive.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The John Cleese Interview (1998) (V)

Soundtrack:

Hungy Heart

Lots of harmless fun

"Fierce Creatures" was marketed as a somewhat adventurous endeavour in teaming up much of the old team from the highly acclaimed "A Fish called Wanda" to do another film that was completely different and had nothing the same, except much of the cast.

Does this have the same sparkle? The short answer is no, but it is still good viewing. It tells the story of a highly greedy and successful business magnate, Rod McCain (Kevin Kline) who has just taken over a zoo in England. However, business regulations require that the zoo return 20% of revenue or it will be shut down. Put in charge is Rollo Lee (John Cleese), who is then somewhat overthrown by new recruit Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis) and McCain's 'idiot' son Vince (also Kline). Essentially the film deals with the three of the new directors and their different schemes for making money and raising the revenue to 20%, but with plenty of sexual tension and comedies of error along the way.

It's a lot of fun, I think I've made that clear. It's by no means the best comedy put on film but it has a lot of the same laughs as a normal Cleese-written comedy; in some ways the character of Rollo Lee is very much like the character of Basil Fawlty. Kline is brilliantly hilarious as usual, he's the standout, while Curtis, Michael Palin, Robert Lindsay and Ronnie Corbett all give spirited performances. It's also nice for an Aussie to see Bille Brown making his big screen debut as the terrible right-hand man Neville.

Overall, it's an above average piece of writing, directing and performing that gives you a laugh. Perfect for a night in. 3 1/2 stars out of 5.