Ace Ventura 3 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Australia
This felt like it would be one of those epic films that came, saw, and conquered. In the past, Baz Luhrman has made some impressive shows, from star-crossed lovers to sexy dancing and pop tunes, but Australia never knew what it wanted to be, and suffered for it. As JMA wrote in his review: "It's too bad that he had to waste the all-encompassing title Australia on such a mixed mess." Skip it on DVD and Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read Jeffrey M. Anderson's Review

Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Where one like Australia fizzled, Beverly Hills Chihuahua shocked even Eric D. Snider: "[it] isn't the braying, garish nightmare that the trailers make it out to be, or that we've come to expect from Disney's live-action-excrement factory." Rent it on DVD and Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read Eric D. Snider's Review

Ace Ventura Jr: Pet Detective
I can only hope that this film isn't the first in a long line of comedic offspring: Zoolander: Mini Male Models, Step Brothers: When Kids are Kids. Unsurprisingly, Cinematical never reviewed this gem of a film, but you can read through our news about it here. Skip it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic
Right in time for the long-awaited release of Watchmen, we're getting the complete motion comic. Now this isn't an entirely animated film, but rather the comic amped up with some movement and a voiceover. DVD Talk says: "these motion comics offer up a unique presentation of the material that is just about as faithful as anything short of a reprint could be, while still offering something new." But there are faults, like Tom Stechschulte voicing ALL of the characters, even the women, but it still looks worthwhile. Rent it on DVD and Blu-ray.

Buy at Amazon

If you weren't exactly sure what to give thanks for on Thursday, it could now be one of two options: You could either be thankful that there's finally a trailer for the likes of Ace Ventura Jr., or you could be thankful that said spin-off is going the direct-to-video route (as well it should).

Starring as the bastard child of Jim Carrey's pet detective is Josh Flitter, appearing in his first lead role after years of being the tubby sidekick to Emma Roberts in Nancy Drew, Robin Williams in License to Wed and Shia LaBeouf in The Greatest Game Ever Played. It seems that he's inherited his father's hairdo and catchphrases, but no discernable comedic ability whatsoever (maybe that'll kick in with puberty, but I'm sure not sticking around to find out).

Ace Ventura Jr. will begin keeping dusty DVD copies of Son of the Mask company when it hits shelves next March.

[Our thanks go out to Slim Pickins, who tried to warn us.]

Erik unleased the horror of horrors a year ago when he brought word that Ace Ventura was coming back. Well, not exactly -- Ace's son was coming back for Ace Ventura 3, aka Ace Ventura Jr. Josh Flitter (Nancy Drew) had signed on to play the young offspring of the infamous pet detective. As much as we all could wish it's just a bad dream, Jim Carrey Online has posted a pic from the film, which you can see above.

Apparently, Ace came back to Florida after the adventures of the second installment, got married, and had a son. But then he went off for another remote case and never came back. So, his wife/widow moves on, and soon discovers that her 12-year-old son is becoming just like Ace -- right down to the ridiculous getups and the hair. But lucky for her, he's there to help when a baby panda is abducted and she's arrested for the crime -- Mini Ventura to the rescue!

This sounds so very bad... But you can see for yourself in September, if you'd even want to.

[via The Bad and the Ugly]

Apparently, no one learned anything from Dumb and Dumberer or The Son of the Mask, as another classic Jim Carrey movie is about to have another sequel squeezed from its you know what minus all of the ingredients (mainly, Carrey) that made the series successful in the first place. Moviehole reports that an Ace Ventura 3 has become very much a reality. Yes, as REM once said, this is the end of the world as we know it. When we first told you about this disaster last year, all that was known was that three guys (Jeff Sank, Jason Heimberg, Justin Heimberg) were hired to write the script, and it would focus on the legendary pet detective's son. Well, we now know who will play that son, as well as which unfortunate soul will be directing.

According to Moviehole, Josh Flitter (recently seen playing Robin Williams sidekick in License to Wed) will take on the role of Ace Ventura Jr.; evoking (I assume) a number of outrageous and eccentric personality traits. David M. Evans will direct, having previously given us gems like The Sandlot, although his last few films (which include a Sandlot sequel) have all gone straight to video. And, honestly, I hope this one goes the same route -- to attempt a theatrical release would be kind of offensive, in my opinion. Regarding his decision to direct, Evans said: "I asked my 9, 11, and 15 year olds what they wanted me to do. And they said, 'Dad, you're doing Ace Ventura 3!.' I don't know if the fact that the film shoots in Orlando (Disney World, Universal Orlando, etc etc...) had anything to with their marching orders, but I suspect it did. Nonetheless, the challenge of trying to meet the expectation of a sequel to one of the funniest movies in the last 30 years appealed to me. Done deal. Cut. Print. Moving on! Done deal." So, it's happening folks -- expect a bunch of animals and a few lines referring back to the guy who wouldn't touch this sequel if his life depended on it.

Cinematical quarterback M. Fischer recently shared with us a fresh piece of Hollywood news effluvium regarding the creation of an Ace Ventura 3, which will go into production without the inclusion of one Jim Carrey, also known as "the actor who played Ace Ventura in two movies already." And while I have no real problem with studios churning out brain-dead sequels that nobody wants (hey, they're fun to review!), I just had to drop by and share my thoughts on this news, and those thoughts are these:

Someone at New Line just got hold of the world's most powerful pound of marijuana.

Seriously? An Ace Ventura 3 without Jim Carrey? This sounds like the sort of movie news that you'd find on the front cover of JoBlo's on April 1st. Why do I say this? Well, it's certainly not because I think that "Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: The Aardvark Chronicles" would necessarily make for a good movie, but let's just look at the numbers for a second...

• Dumb and Dumber (1994, production budget of $17 million, starring Jim Carrey): $127 million domestic box office / $247m worldwide
• Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003, production budget of $19m, not starring Jim Carrey): $26m domestic / $39m worldwide

Now, you don't have to be Paul Dergarabedian to figure out the formula here: People think Jim Carrey is funny. It ain't the title; it's the star, you knuckleheads. But the lesson was made even clearer right here:

• The Mask (1994, production budget of $23m, starring Jim Carrey): $119m domestic / $351m worldwide
• Son of the Mask (2005, production budget of ... $84m, not starring Jim Carrey): $17m domestic / $57m worldwide

I mean, c'mon. If the message were any clearer, it'd come with a free bottle of Windex: Stop making Carrey-less sequels to movies that ONLY made money because of Jim Carrey in the first place! Why not just stick 39 million one-dollar bills into a giant suitcase and drop it into the gibbon cage at the zoo?

And just for the record, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) cost $14m and made $107m worldwide; Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), which looked a lot cheaper, made $212m worldwide. Depending on who New Line hires to play Ace Ventura Jr., we're looking at a global gross of about ... $49 million. I mean no disrespect to the studio that gave us Freddy Krueger, Austin Powers and Blade, but c'mon fellas; surely there's a better way to spend your Lord of the Rings booty than this.

[Special thanks to BoxOfficeMojo for the stats.]