“Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective”-Own it on DVD March 3, 2009
- Release Date: March 3, 2009
- Publisher: Warner Home Video
- Price: $17.49 on Amazon.com (Buy It
)
- Rating: PG (some rude humor)
- Run Time: 93 minutes
- Special Features: Extended Scenes, Gag Reel, 6 Making-Of Features
- Starring: Josh Flitter, Emma Lockhart, Ann Cusack, Cullen Douglas, Art LaFleur, Austin Rogers, Reed Alexander, Ralph Waite
- Genre: Comedy, Family
Right off the bat, this film has three things working against it. It’s a straight-to-DVD film, it is a sequel, and it really has nothing to do with the “Ace Ventura” series other than the title and the basic concept. Unsurprisingly with all that working against it, “Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective” is a pretty horrible film that almost nobody should even consider renting.
Jim Carrey doesn’t show up, instead we are subjected to Josh Flitter as his son. Like his father, Ace Ventura Jr. loves animals. When a series of animal kidnappings hits his neighborhood, he decides to take up his father’s vocation and become a pet detective. When his mother is framed for kidnapping some rare animals, Ace Ventura Jr. has to find the real culprit and saves his mom from a lengthy stay in prison.
The biggest problem with the film is the lack of humor. Most of the “comedy” involves Flitter farting and delivering bad punchline after bad punchline. Making things worse is Flitter’s awful acting and comedic timing. I don’t like insulting the work of young actors but he is horrible as the second coming of Ace Ventura. Sure, he doesn’t have much to work with (the script is awful) but someone else really should have been cast in this role.
Both video and audio quality are fine but definitely not great. It is easy to tell that the film was low-budget, most of the scenes were even shot in the Universal Orlando theme parks. The video quality doesn’t help disguise the cheapness of the film.
Extras aren’t bad but when the DVD you are watching is this bad, who cares about bonus features? Included is a decent gag reel, some worthless extended scenes, and six making-of featurettes that focus on the animals, actors, etc. Other than the extended scenes, these are all probably worth watching if you for some reason enjoyed the film.
“Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective” is a horrendous film that almost nobody should even bother watching. The only group of people that might enjoy the film enough to rent it are young kids who like a lot of fart jokes. Not Recommended.
