This article, reprinted here with the permission of its author, orginally appeared in Completely Different on February 5, 1997

First, take a bunch of animals. Then, arrange them...in a zoo! That, in a nutshell, is the plot of Fierce Creatures -– and, alas, there’s not much more that that. While certainly not a bad film, Fierce Creatures is by no means the equal to A Fish Called Wanda that was promised, despite the return of that film’s principal cast and a rather talented supporting cast that includes Ronnie Corbett and Cynthia Cleese.

The sight of Michael Palin buzzing about in a bumblebee costume is, in itself, almost worth the price of admission, and there are moments of genuine hilarity, of exquisetly wicked comedy...but these moments are too few and far between, and the heavy reliance on double entendre and sexual innuendo gets a bit tedious after awhile. There are, after all, only so many jokes about bestial sex one can stomach in an hour.

The acting, though, considering what little the cast is really given to work with, is rather good. Kevin Kline, in dual roles as father and son, is best as the Rupert Murdoch-esque Rod McCain ("Rod Almighty" -– it’s okay, I didn’t get it either until a few days later), if only because he had me convinced there was another actor behind that makeup.

The problem with Fierce Creatures, really, is that it seems content to be little more than a manic sex farce with some commentary about corporate greed, even if that means sacrificing an actual story. To be honest, without press releases and a plot synopsis from the film’s webpage, I would never even have known half the characters’ names; the film doesn’t let you get to know and care about these people the same way that its predecessor did.

So, in summary, Fierce Creatures is neither sequel nor equal to A Fish Called Wanda...but it might still be worth a couple hours of your time.