A Year of Bad Movies # 13 — “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr.”
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr. (2009)
IMDB Score: 1.9 out of 10
First off, yes, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr.” is a bad movie.
It's a terrible movie, but really ... it's no worse then most of the other crap that's targeted to kids today.
That being said, I can’t argue that the idea of transforming Jim Carrey’s zany animal sleuth character into a children’s movie isn’t a bad idea.
I will admit, though, that I’m a bit biased. You see, the original “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” along with “Dumb and Dumber” and “The Mask,” the two other films that formed Carrey’s 1994 comedy hat trick, have a special place in my childhood memories.
I can still fondly remember going to see “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” with my mom one afternoon when she picked up from elementary school. I don’t remember what special occasion warranted getting to go see a movie on a weeknight (or getting to see a PG-13 movie for that matter) but I do remember laughing my butt off during the film.
Looking back, I can acknowledge that perhaps “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” wasn’t the most appropriate movie for me, then a fourth grader, to have gone to seen. That’s why I can see the good in having a child-oriented film that attempts to translate the zany antics of Ace Ventura into a more kid-appropriate setting.
In “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr,” child actor Josh Flitter plays the bastard son of Jim Carrey’s original pet detective.
Apparently, Ventura Sr. disappeared while working a case, leaving his wife Melissa (Anne Cusack playing who audiences are led to believe is Courtney Cox’s character from the original film) with a son.
Following the movie’s logic, apparently Ace Ventura’s zany antics aren’t so much a life-style choice or learned eccentricities as much as they are a family curse akin to lycanthropy.
Like a mutant developing his powers, Ace Ventura Jr. begins to show bizarrely familiar behaviors as he comes of age. But instead of optic laser beams or the ability to control the weather, Ventura Jr.’s mutant power is to try his darndest at a Jim Carrey impression.
I feel really bad saying anything negative about the children actors in “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr.” I don’t want to be the bad guy who makes fun of kids so I’ll just say that each and every one of the children who appear in the movie deserve a participation ribbon for trying their best. Really, the movie is like the Special Olympics. Everybody should get a hug.
Flitter certainly gives the role his all — exploding in mixture of Carry-esque behaviors and other assorted Ritalin kid-like flourishes.
Watching young Flitter do his best Jim Carrey impression, I was reminded of the summer of 1995 between “Ace Ventura” movies when I went through my own Jim Carrey faze. I started wearing Hawaiian shirts, combing my hair in a desperate attempt at a pompadour and trying to speak in the same exaggerated style Carrey often utilized. I imagine, also being a chubby kid, that I looked a lot like Flitter does in the movie.
I idolized Carrey, watching all of his movies and forcing my family to endure some of the worst impressions to ever be inflicted upon mankind.
This past-life of mine is why, even if I didn’t like “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr.,” I can’t complain that the movie was made.
Children need wacky role models to look up to. Jim Carrey has kind of mellowed out in his old age and the chances of him doing another Ace Ventura movie are slim to none. With Carrey gone, who says that the wacky role model can’t be another child? Who cares if it’s just a poor imitation of another movie targeted to the Nickelodeon crowd? Think of it as a gateway drug that will eventually lead today’s youth to the hallowed grounds of vintage Carrey.
