History Film / FierceCreatures

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/AFishCalledWanda''. In Poland the movie is even called ''[[CompletelyDifferentTitle A Lemur Called Rollo]]''

* MsFanservice: Jamie Lee Curtis. As Creator/RogerEbert puts it, she dresses as businesswomen would dress if careerwear was designed by Maidenform. (Or maybe more like a stripper in character as a businesswoman.)

%%* JerkAss: Rod [=McCain=].

%%* AssholeVictim: Rod [=McCain=].
%%* BadBoss: Rod [=McCain=].

The story concerns a British zoo recently acquired by New Zealand businessman Rod [=McCain=] (Kline) and put under the management of Rollo Lee (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. He then has to justify his actions when his bosses, Rod's son Vince (also played by Kline) and sexy Willa (Curtis) arrive.

* AssholeVictim: Rod [=McCain=].
* BadBoss: Rod [=McCain=].

* BetterThanItSoundsFilm

* CurseCutShort

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace

* JerkAss: Rod [=McCain=].

-->'''Rollo:''' Oh...Well...

* EpicFail: Bugsy accidentally killing Rod. Not so much the fact he shot him, but the fact that by shooting him, he doomed his comrades to very swift life imprisonment. Not to mention, Rod has decided to keep the zoo open, mere seconds beforehand. Rollo points out how thoroughly they're all screwed in a tirade dripping with sarcasm.
-->'''Rollo:''' Oh, great. Terrific. He decides to keep the zoo open, so you kill him. Brilliant. Well done. Thank you so much, especially for shooting him right between the eyes so that it doesn't look like an accident. Because the people at Octopus will know he was coming here to close us down. So there's our motive for murdering him. Stunning. Well, Mr. Brain of Britain, what are we going to tell the police who are, of course, already on their way here? Another example of the thoroughness of your plan. Go on. I'm all ears. What do you suggest we do with the dead body of the ''incredibly'' famous man who you have just '''''ASSASSINATED'''''?

The story concerns a British zoo recently acquired by New Zealand businessman Rod [=McCain=] (Kline) and put under the management of Rollo Lee (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. He then has to justify his actions when his bosses, Rod's son Vince (also played by Cline) and sexy Willa (Curtis) arrive.

[[caption-width-right:300:Don't Pet Them]]

* MsFanservice: Jamie Lee Curtis. As RogerEbert puts it, she dresses as businesswomen would dress if careerwear was designed by Maidenform. (Or maybe more like a stripper in character as a businesswoman.)

''Fierce Creatures'' (1997) is a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'', starring the four main players from the earlier film: Creator/JohnCleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Creator/MichaelPalin. The movie was written by John Cleese and directed by Fred Schepisi and Robert Young.

The story concerns a British zoo recently acquired by New Zealand businessman Rod [=McCain=] (Kline) and put under the management of Rollo Lee (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.

* AccidentalPervert / NotWhatItLooksLike: Rollo Lee is constantly being being caught by Willa in embarrassing and seemingly lurid situations (such as being caught with half-dressed and nubile young lady zookeepers, and a sheep in his bedroom). They all have perfectly innocent but very convoluted and unlikely explanations.

* BadBoss : Rod [=McCain=].

* {{Expy}}: Rod [=McCain=], eccentric Australian billionaire with a huge global business empire whose main business strategy is to buy out struggling entertainment businesses, revamp them to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and then sell them off for the money. Nope, doesn't sound like Rupert Murdoch at all...

* NetworkDecay : What a nice [[CyberPunk cyberpunked]] [[CardCarryingVillain rejoicing]]!

* ActingForTwo: Kline as both the [=McCains=].
* ActorAllusion: Rollo briefly calls Willa "Wanda" by accident. Wanda was Curtis' previous role in ''AFishCalledWanda''.
** "It's just a flesh wound"
* AllThereInTheManual: The novelisation reveals that Rollo is the brother of Archie from ''AFishCalledWanda''.

* ArtisticLicense Zoology: DO NOT LOOK A GORILLA IN THE EYES!
** There are several in-universe examples too:
--> '''Rollo:''' It says here they eat grass.
--> '''Lotterby:''' That's for hors d'oeuvres, sir. When their blood's up--
--> '''Rollo:''' Lotterby, you are trying to deceive me into thinking some of your animals are fierce...
* AssholeVictim: Rod [=McCain=]

* EpicFail: Bugsy accidentally killing Rod. Not so much the fact he shot him, but the fact that by shooting him, he doomed his comrades to very swift life imprisonment. Not to mention, Rod has decided to keep the zoo open, mere seconds beforehand.
** Rollo points out how thoroughly they're all screwed in a tirade dripping with sarcasm.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The studio disliked the cut of the film that Robert Young turned in, which led to Fred Schepisi being hired to reshoot anything between just the ending or nearly half of the film, depending on who you believe.
** It could be half, since Fierce Creatures seems a bit more watered down with the language when comparing it to A Fish Called Wanda.

* FreudianSlipperySlope: John Cleese has a brilliant monologue about lemurs wherein he is unable to go five words without mentioning Jamie Lee Curtis' breasts.
** He even describes it as a "Freudian slit...-slut!...-slot!"

* InadequateInheritor: See HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood above--Rod is going to cut Vince out of the will.
** By not actually dying; he's going to [[HumanPopsicle freeze himself]] and live forever, with his property going into a trust in the interim.
* JerkAss: Rod [=McCain=]

* ProductionPosse: ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'' and ''Fierce Creatures'' both share the same four actors: John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Palin.
** The same woman who played Wendy (Archie's wife) in ''Wanda'' also returns, this time playing Rollo's secretary. And John Cleese's daughter Cynthia, who played his daughter in ''Wanda'', here plays the blonde zookeeper.

* ShoutOut: "[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Beautiful plumage]]", "[[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Flesh wound]]", and, of course, calling Willa "Wanda".
** Bugsy can't stop talking until the moment where he kills someone, at which point he shuts up. In AFishCalledWanda, Ken (played by the same actor) cannot ''talk'' because of his stutter, until he kills someone, at which point he suddenly talks normally and won't shut up.
** Furthermore, the character of Bugsy has the same accent and manner of rambling on, despite whether or not anybody is listening, of the character Mr. Pither from MPFC.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''AFishCalledWanda''. In Poland the movie is even called ''[[CompletelyDifferentTitle A Lemur Called Rollo]]''
* [[ThoseTwoActors Those Four Actors]]: Note: This is ''not'' a sequel to ''Wanda''.
* ThrowItIn: After Rollo has called Willa Wanda by mistake, he is seen suppressing his laughter.

* YourCostumeNeedsWork: A meta-example. Kevin Cline plays both Rod and Vince [=McCain=] in the film, and Vince [=McCain=] ''also'' plays his own father, albeit with such unprofessional makeup techniques as turning his hair grey with flea powder and stuffing his cheeks with cotton balls and his jacket with toilet paper. Neville has this reaction to Vince as Rod.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fierce_Creatures_poster_2474.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Don't Pet Them]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fierce_Creatures_poster_2474.jpg
%%[[caption-width:300:Don't Pet Them]]

* {{Expy}}: Rod [=McCain=], eccentric Australian billionaire with a huge global business empire and a reputation for buying out companies and then gutting them for a profit. Nope, doesn't sound like Rupert Murdoch at all...

* ArtisticLicenseZoology: DO NOT LOOK A GORILLA IN THE EYES!

* YourCostumeNeedsWork: A meta-example. Kevin Cline plays both Rod and Vince [=McCain=] in the film, and Vince [=McCain=] ''also'' plays his own father, albeit with such unprofessional makeup techniques as turning his hair grey with flea powder stuffing his cheeks with cotton balls and his jacket with toilet paper. Neville has this reaction to Vince as Rod.

* UncannyFamilyResemblance: Rod and Vince [=McCain=], both played by KevinKline.

* BetterThanItSoundsFilm

* PeopleZoo: Rollo and his office are briefly an exhibit in a cage at the zoo.