Ace Ventura I & II Collection: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective / Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (DVD)
APPROX. 250 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 0 - MPA RATING: PG-13
" For the Ace Ventura admirer, WB's three-disc set, with its first-class picture and sound, is a blessing. For me, it was three discs too many.
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The "Ace Ventura" pictures have always struck me as the kinds of things that seem screamingly funny to you when you first see them, especially if you're young, and then years later when you look back on them, they make you wonder what made you laugh.
It's also struck me as odd why any actor would want to embarrass himself on-screen to the extent Jim Carrey does in the two "Ace Ventura" movies by constantly mugging, overacting, and demanding attention in every scene; but then I remember that the first "Ace" film was an instant hit and made Carrey an international big-screen star. Who wouldn't want that? In particular because it allowed him to go on and do more serious work in things like "The Truman Show," "Man on the Moon," "The Majestic," and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
Anyway, given Carrey's success and the fact that he's even considering a future "Ace Ventura" project, Warner Bros. have repackaged the two previous "Ace" movies in a double-feature set, and it's not just one of those two-sided single discs with compressed picture quality, either. No, siree! Instead, we get each movie newly remastered on a separate DVD, with a third disc of "Ace Ventura" cartoons thrown in for good measure. For non-fans of the "Ace" character like me, it still doesn't do much, but for the die-hard fan, it must be heaven-sent.
Disc One: "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective"
The same year Carrey did "Ace Venture: Pet Detective," 1994, he did "The Mask," in which he played a character who acted wild and crazy when he put on an enchanted mask, and "Dumb & Dumber," in which he played a character who was wild and crazy because he was simply dumb. As Ace Ventura, however, we have to ask ourselves why the character is behaving the way he is. He is neither enchanted nor dumb. He's just an idiot.
Carrey has no funny lines and no funny gags; what he's left with is acting silly, striking poses, making faces at the camera, and generally behaving in a manner that would make Jerry Lewis blush. Yet his bizarre behavior, gaudy clothes, and goofy hairdo went over with audiences everywhere. I am still mystified, but there you are. One of viewers' favorite scenes is where Carrey talks through his rear end. While it is remarkably juvenile, people seem to like it.
Carrey plays Ace Ventura, a Miami pet detective who specializes in finding lost or stolen animals. In this first movie, the Miami Dolphins football team hire Ace to find their kidnapped mascot, a dolphin. As Ace goes about his investigation, he displays an intelligence that verges on the uncanny, a knack for detection that makes Sherlock Holmes looks like an amateur. Which is why one has to wonder why such a smart fellow acts so foolishly in every scene. There are a couple of moments when he actually speaks in a normal voice, brief moments, to be sure, but moments. Then it's back to his absurd and witless mannerisms. One can only suppose that Carrey realized the filmmakers hired him because of his zaniness, and he tried to reinforce this impression in every shot. It verges on the egomaniacal.
Not that I think the movie is without at least a couple of good points. I liked Ace's remark about a character's disappearance, saying, "He did a Claude Rains." I liked his slow-motion act. I liked his pet monkey aping him. And I liked a couple of the supporting players: Courtney Cox as the Dolphins' representative trying to get the mascot back and unaccountably becoming attracted to Ace; Sean Young as a tough, cold, but sexy police lieutenant investigating a related case; and Tone Loc as Ace's friend on the police force. Poor Dan Marino, the Dolphins' quarterback at the time, gets dragged into the movie to give it a bit of a realistic lift and does the best he can. The director, Tom Shadyac, went on to better things with Carrey--"Liar Liar" and "Bruce Almighty," for example.
The best part of "Pet Detective," though, is the opening sequence in which Ace tries to rescue a sweet little dog from a very big, angry man. From there on, the movie heads south. 4/10
Video:
This is a first-time widescreen DVD release for "Pet Detective," and, what's more, WB give it a new, high-bit-rate, anamorphic transfer. The result is a fairly clean, nice-looking picture all the way around in screen dimensions that fill up a 16x9 television screen. The only visible grain is very fine, very light, probably inherent to the original film stock.
Audio:
The WB engineers remastered the film's soundtrack in DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1. It is loud and raucous to match the movie, providing a good front-channel stereo spread, good overall balance, and decent dynamics. But, dang, is it boisterous, and, surprisingly, there is not a lot of rear-channel activity except a touch of musical ambience reinforcement.
Extras:
The main extra on disc one is an audio commentary by director Tom Shadyac that is informative but not entirely inspiring. One thing I found interesting was his remark that before this film, his career was only so-so, but the minute the film clicked, people overwhelmed him with offers to direct. Such is the power of the box office. In addition, there is a fullscreen theatrical trailer; several TV spots; English as the only spoken language; English, French, and Spanish subtitles; and thirty-five scene selections but no chapter insert.
