Disc Reviews

Fierce Creatures Blu-ray Review

• 21st Apr 2015

The spiritual successor to A Fish Called Wanda sees the return of the main cast John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin for another absurd comedy – this time set around the running of a Zoo that was recently acquired by a large coirporation.

The owner Rod McCain (Kline) has a former policeman Rollo Lee (Cleese) take over the establishment – whose bright idea to bring profits up to 20% is to showcase only animals that are known or seen to be deadly.

This of course is a problem for the zookeepers themselves who are in fact very attached to the animals that do not meet this quota and they are forced to remove from the premises. On top of this Lee also has to contend with new higher up management on site in the form of executives Willa Weston (Curtis) and Rod’s son Vince McCain (Kline again).

So ensues a series of events where Lee has to combat his own staff whilst trying to look good to the powers that be who are making interesting decisions themselves.

Fierce Creatures is an enjoyable farce. It may not have the punch that Wanda packed, but it’s certainly nice to watch the main cast inhabiting their roles so well.  No one can accuse any of the cast for merely showing up. Cleese is a riot as the stressed out manager commonly misunderstood by everyone above and below him to gratifying effect. Kline is trying the bad guy routine once again (which he won an Oscar for in Wanda), but at least he’s giving it his all. The added bonus of playing his own character’s father (with an Aussie accent) probably helped lure Kline back in. Palin is a lesser role, but one that the actor relishes every single moment for. Palin played a character that had trouble talking in Wanda, here the character he plays seems to have trouble shutting up – much to the annoyance of everyone around him, again particularly Cleese manager. Jamie Lee Curtis perhaps has less to chew on and is often here to be looked at by the cast and the audience more often than heard.

Fierce Creatures stands up very well down the line. Sadly, no extras!

Steven Hurst