What a waste of my time!!!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis) is the new executive in Octopus Inc. run by Rod McCain (Kevin Kline). She joins with Rod's son Vince (Kevin Kline) to manage the newly acquired zoo. Rollo Lee (John Cleese) starts out as the director sent by Octopus to raise profit margin to 20%. His idea is to have only fierce creatures. The shocked zookeepers dare Rollo to kill some of the non-fierce creatures. He pretends to and instead keeps the animals at his place. Willa and Vince mistakenly thinks that Rollo is a ladies man. After an incident, Rollo is demoted. Willa is still fascinated by Rollo's supposed womanizing and Vince has even crazier ideas for the zoo.This is a real disappointment and a giant step down from the same crew that made 'A Fish Called Wanda'. It's a lot of wackiness without being funny. The story is completely stupid without being funny. The characters are all crazy without being funny. It's like the gang decided to pile on wacky things on top of wacky things. But none of it is funny. If it has any chance, the movie should have started in the zoo. The opening at the corporate office is a waste of time that achieved nothing.

Fierce Creatures (1997): Dir: Fred Schepisi, Robert Young / Cast: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Robert Lindsay: Not a sequel to the superior A Fish Called Wanda as it is a reunion of the cast. Title may be suggesting man as nature's most destructive domination. Interesting concept involves a failing zoo and the idea of presenting the wildlife as more fierce. Any animal that is not considered fierce is removed. To prevent this employees go about faking injuries and scheming up stories of wild anteaters. Very creative until a rather corrupt ending. Directors Robert Young and Fred Schepisi are backed by fine imagery but the screenplay had potential, which failed to come together with the clever result of the other film. John Cleese pulls off any humour as the zoo owner who feels some regret and sympathy for the rejected animals. The rest of the cast fail to repeat the previous brilliance. Jamie Lee Curtis is plainly not funny and mainly seen as a romantic ploy. Kevin Kline is flat as a father and son duo. Michael Palin as a janitor tends to overact. A Fish Called Wanda is a clever caper with top notch acting from this very cast. Fierce Creatures had potential before it went to the dogs and that is something considering what it fails to measure up to. In the end it is just a lousy follow up to A Fish Called Wanda, which was far more fierce. Score: 5 ½ / 10

The problem that "Fierce Creatures" has to overcome - and, to be perfectly honest, the problem that it doesn't and probably couldn't overcome - is the inevitable comparison to "A Fish Called Wanda." I thought "Wanda" was gut-wrenchingly funny; one of my favourite comedies ever. "Fierce Creatures" reunites basically the entire starring cast from that movie (John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin and Kevin Kline) but gives them a totally unrelated and original story to work with (although the very last scene of the movie does pay homage to the earlier movie, as Cleese's character inadvertently calls Curtis's "Wanda.") So this isn't a sequel in any way, shape or form. It's just the cast reunited in a different project. But if you've ever seen "A Fish Called Wanda" you're going to be painfully aware that this isn't as good.In this, Curtis is actually playing Willa Weston, an employee of a media mogul who's just bought a zoo in England and - unknown to Willa, who's sent to take charge of it - is planning to close it. Cleese played Rollo Lee, who had been in charge of the zoo and had planned to maximize profits (and thus hopefully save the zoo) by getting rid of all the gentle, timid animals and keeping only the frighteningly fierce creatures, believing that those animals are the only ones people come to see. (Cleese is perhaps the only one of the stars who I thought was as good and as much fun as in "Wanda.") Kline played both the mogul and his son Vince, sent with Willa, and in love with her (and equally convinced that she's in love with him) while Palin played one of the zookeepers, with a particular soft spot for tarantulas.It is, in fact, nowhere near as good as "A Fish Called Wanda." What I liked about it, though, was that it did make me laugh out loud several times - and many so-called comedies don't do that, and don't even come close to doing that. Some of the content is actually quite funny, especially some of the misunderstandings about Rollo's sexual activities that arise from people hearing only parts of conversations and not understanding what's actually happening. It's not really original, but it is funny enough. What doesn't work, though, is the story. There isn't enough to hold a movie together. This basic plot would have perhaps made for a great half hour TV sitcom episode. Trying to stretch it out over an hour and a half (and thankfully no longer than that) was overkill to say the least. To me at least, the story had no real cohesion. It's also exceptionally confusing at times. The beginning of the movie, for example, seems to set Rollo up as the bad guy, but then there's a sudden shift as Rollo turns out to be a softie, and Vince and his dad become the real nasty characters. The shift in the Rollo character was a bit too sudden for my liking, and Kline's Vince was too over the top in a way that wasn't really either funny or likable.I still liked this and had fun with it and laughed at it. But the weak story takes its toll, and the unavoidable comparison to "A Fish Called Wanda" makes this one suffer. (7/10)

A follow-up to the wildly popular 'A Fish Called Wanda', starring the same four legendary actors, John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. 'Fierce Creatures' is a Decent Flick, that hasn't managed a cult following, that is because, it's comparison is to a really mighty film! If a direct sequel, I also would've been a tad underwhelmed. But, as it plays it safe by claiming it as a follow up, I didn't go thinking of watching another 'Wanda'. To be honest, 'Fierce Creatures' is dumb, but at the same, it's funny, nonetheless.'Fierce Creatures' centers around a British zoo which has recently been acquired by New Zealand businessman Rod McCain played by Kline and put under the management of Rollo Lee played by Cleese. In order to boost profits, Lee decides to institute a "fierce creatures" policy that means, that only potentially deadly animals will be featured in the zoo.Clesse's Writing is funny at parts, but at times, it's dumb. Yet, I found the climax to be fairly entertaining. Fred Schepisi and Robert Young direct this comedy well. Cinematography, Editing, Art Design, are proper.Performance-Wise: Kline is excellent in both the roles, and truly is the funniest of the lot. Clesse, like always, gets his timing right. Jamie Lee Curtis is good. Michael Palin doesn't get much scope here. Robert Lindsay is passable.On the whole, A Decent One-Time Watch.