Fierce Creatures (1997)

From the makers of wickedly-dark British crime satire “A Fish Called Wanda” – one of my favorites – comes “Fierce Creatures,” a surprisingly tame comedy despite the title. The entire cast of “Wanda” returns for this not-quite sequel, behind and in front of the camera. John Cleese plays the button-down ex-cop suddenly put in charge of a financially strapped zoo, purchased by a Murdoch-type corporate clown (Kevin Kline) with an obnoxious sex-obsessed son (Kline, again). As Wanda, sorry Willa, Jamie Lee Curtis is the smart, go-getter stuck in the middle, falling for Cleese, but tied to Kline’s weasel. It’s all the same, with gags repeated from not just “Wanda,” but Monty Python as well. (“It’s just a flesh wound!”) I constantly felt reminded of a far-better film I could easily re-watch, and a comedy troupe that will never be topped. Fierce? No. C+