IMDb

Ben
If you like the first Ace Ventura, you will like this one. The low brow humour is back and raised up a notch, topped by a scene involving a naked Jim Carrey being birthed out of a mechanical rhino in a African Safari park. Fun fact about this movie: all the African scenes were filmed in South Carolina.

Carrey is the only cast member to return for the sequel, but if we’re honest he’s all that’s needed. By this time, Courtney Cox was buying oversized coffee cups in New York with her friends, and in her spare time was helping Neve Campbell not get murdered by scary men in black robes and white masks. This is also the first time Carrey starred in a sequel to one of his own movies, he had avoided it since Ace 2 until he finally agreed to do a Dumb & Dumber sequel with Jeff Daniels due for release in 2014. It is a shame Carrey seemed to be adverse to sequels throughout the bulk of his career. I’d have really liked to see him do another Mask movie. I thought that franchise had much more to give the movie going public than that abomination that was the Son of the Mask with Jaime Kennedy.

But I digress, I’m meant to be talking about Ace Ventura. So here goes: the plot is non existent, but nobody going to this movie should be expecting much in terms of story or character development. If you’ve seen the first one, you know what you’re in for. They find a suitable reason for Carrey to be in Africa and let him ham it up for 90 minutes. If you go in expecting anything more than Jim Carrey making a fool of himself for an hour and a half, you’ll be disappointed. But if you go in with the right expectations, this is good clean fun with plenty of laughs for the whole family. Except of course, for the wife, if her reaction is anything to go by.

Rating: B-

Sally
A frightening thought came to mind as I watched When Nature Calls: What if they make another one of these movies? With the revival of Men in Black, new chapter of Jurassic Park right around the corner, and *shudder* a new Dumb & Dumber next year, it doesn’t seem that crazy. Sequels make money. Lots and lots of money. And if the aging talents of Adam Sandler & Company can bring in enough dough to warrant a Grown Ups 2, then lord knows Carrey could strike gold by bringing this 90s “classic” back to the silver screen.

On the whole, this was slightly better than the first. I enjoy Ace’s anti-fur sentiments, and actually found him wearing “Mr. Monopoly” like a mink stole to be pretty funny. The quick references to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Twilight Zone were cute. The overall production value clearly sky rocketed, which made it easier to watch.

On the other hand, there’s just as much stupid, crude humor in this movie as in the first. Not that I’m above such jokes; just make them smart. Of course, when I saw Ace vomit-feed a baby bird within the first five minutes, I knew exactly what I was in for.

Rating: D