Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls 4K 1995 Ultra HD 2160p

Ace Ventura, emerging from self-imposed exile in a remote Himalayan hideaway, travels to Africa with explorer Fulton Greenwall to find a sacred bat which is told will avert a war between with Wachootoo and Wachati tribes. Of course, when Ace gets involved, all hell breaks loose...

User Review

After Jim Carrey had just wrapped up the most challenging and most productive year of his life—his 94th—starring in three cult classics in a row, and after his fees had skyrocketed from $300,000 to $10 million in a single year, after being named America’s top comedian in a single year, and following the impressive successes of *The Mask* and *Dumb and Dumber*, he once again slipped into the colorful shirt and baggy harem pants of one of his most iconic characters—Ace Ventura—the hero who had made him a global superstar a year earlier. His hair once again soared skyward in a rooster-like crest, his body once again defied the laws of physics, and his face rattled off a barrage of antics like a machine gun.

This sequel can undoubtedly be called a success; moreover, it’s filmed at practically the same level as the first movie, which is extremely rare. Although, I like this movie less than the first one. Mind you, I’m not the only one. Jim Carrey himself, when people began cautiously broaching the subject of sequels to *The Mask*, *Ace Ventura*, and *Dumb and Dumber*, angrily refused any sequels, stating that even the second *Ventura* movie had been a mistake on his part and that he’d only starred in it out of friendship with one of the screenwriters from the first *Ventura*—Steve Oidekerk, who had since become a director— well, and because of public demand, as audiences were bombarding the studio with requests for a sequel. Jim never appeared in any sequels again, since everything he does is absolutely unique and perfect in form and execution, while a sequel always carries the risk of altering and reinterpreting the source material—which is exactly what happened, though not to a degree that jeopardized the film’s quality in the second *Ace*. And we can see that Kerry is doing the right thing by flatly refusing to make sequels—the incredibly terrible * *Son of the Mask* and *Dumb and Dumber To*, which parasitize on the glorious names of great comedies, convincingly prove that only with a practically impossible concentration of all the talent that worked on the original can a sequel produce something worthwhile.

So what didn’t I like about the second movie? Or, rather, what I didn’t quite like, because, on the whole, I’m thrilled with the film. I didn’t like the changes to Ace Ventura’s character. The soul has disappeared from the screen persona of Kerry. Apparently, the fact that Jim didn’t work on the second film as a screenwriter took its toll, so Ace Ventura has become coarser, slightly cruder, more brazen, and completely unmanageable. Of course, his behavior was never exactly calm, but the jokes have become more crude, and Ace has gone from being a smart and perceptive—albeit very eccentric—private investigator to just a simple show-off. It seems that in the first film, the protagonist was more mature and kinder than in the second. This was likely influenced by the direction and screenplay of Oidekerk—his films are much more straightforward and simple than Shedyak’s.

However, as far as Kerry’s performance—and everything else—is concerned, there are no complaints. Jim is simply stunning. It is in this film that he reached the pinnacle of his rare gift for mastering his face and body to perfection. Jim comes up with and performs so many mini-masterpieces over the course of this hour and a half that you could die laughing—Jim at the governor’s dinner is a masterpiece; Jim in the projection room is hilarious; Jim visiting the savages is brilliant; Jim imitating animals is simply brilliant! It’s pointless to summarize this movie—because you can’t summarize Jim Carrey; you have to watch him. This actor has perfected the art of eccentricity and the visual embodiment of humor. Every scene is a new transformation, pushing the limits of human capability, sparing neither himself nor others.

Even though movies with Jim Carrey are always a one-man show, sometimes you can pay attention to the others as well. Of course, anyone would pale in comparison to Jim, but compared to the bland Courtney Cox and the dim-witted Dan Marino from the first film, here he’s supported by actors who are far more charismatic. The main villain was played by Simon Callow—a nasty, slimy character—while Bob Gunton played the animal dealer. The chubby Ian McNeice was amusing to watch, but I was particularly delighted by the “savages”—the short, grumpy one, the oversized chief, a real “diplomat-interpreter,” the beautiful Princess Sophie Okonedo, and a couple of other poacher freaks who made for a fun cast.

And the African setting, despite its artificiality, really helps many far-fetched comedic situations feel natural—even “Ace’s birth from a rhino’s rear end” looks incredibly funny!

We’re dealing with a magnificent comedy that probably won’t fail to make even the most ardent haters of today’s greatest comedian laugh. Of course, Jim’s participation in films like this doesn’t contribute much to the development of this incredibly talented actor—it’s, so to speak, the “Kerry standard,” which at times isn’t without its repetitions. But this formula is so funny and strikingly original that it’s impossible not to admire it. *Ace Ventura in Africa* is an interesting, memorable, and side-splitting comedy. You can watch it over and over again, especially if you prefer the version of Carrey that’s stripped of his usual depth. This is a case of absolutely “pure,” yet necessary, comedy.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (84.7 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Info Audio

#English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
#German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Info Subtitles

English SDH (PGS), Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French (Parisian) (PGS), German SDH (PGS), Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese (PGS), Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian) (PGS), Portuguese (Iberian), Romanian, Russian, Spanish (Castilian) (PGS), Spanish (Latin American) (PGS), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.