Fierce Creatures (1997)

Plot of Fierce Creatures: A poorly run zoo, somewhere in Britain, is purchased by an Antipodean newspaper magnate who demands that his investment in it returns 20% a year. As a result, Rollo Lee, the manager, chooses to get rid of all the friendly animals and house only fierce dangerous animals. Meanwhile the magnate’s son Vince comes over with Willa Weston, a female executive to put their management slant on the running of the zoo.  Vince woos Willa, badly, she becoming interested in Rollo, who she mistakenly thinks is engaging in all sorts of wild sexual activity. Vince creates a whole environment where everything in the zoo is sponsored in one way or another. Rollo makes pratfalls and falls for Willa. Vince’s dad arrives to sort things out, and threatens to sell the zoo as a golf course. But he is accidentally shot dead. What to do?

Content: No sex, but it seems that Rollo is engaged with multiple partners when heard through his door trying to control a number of small animals. He is supposed to have shot them but instead is stuck with looking after them. This idea is pursued when he and a young female zoo keeper have to strip off in a cupboard to ensure that they do not have a tarantula in their clothing. At one point the keepers pretend to have been injured to show how fierce the animals are, and Rollo treats a real injured person badly. The newspaper magnate, whenever he appears is bad tempered and horrible. Vince is always an idiot. Willa is always whimsical and attractive.

A View: Those of us who enjoyed ‘A Fish Called Wanda’ would probably have gone along to see this back in 1997 or even have given it time as a download, but we would have been disappointed. It might have covered its production costs as long as they did not spend too much money on promoting it. It is said that for a comedy to succeed it requires you to laugh ten times. I might have laughed once. The problem seemed to be that it never had any idea of its direction of travel. So not a watch, even for nothing unless you are completing your Python Portfolio.

Fun Fact: Robert Linsay – “Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline , who are both fantastic people, had tough American lawyers and agents around them throughout the shoot and were able to dictate changes to their benefit and our detriment”.