Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr. Review

Is this movie truly as bad as every one says it is, or do people just hold on a bit too much to nostalgia? Let’s find out!

The Scores

Interest: 7.5/10

Acting: 7/10

Storyline: 4/10

Intensity: 2/10

Fights Guns or Otherwise: 5/10

Nudity: 0/10

Director Score: 7/10

Musical Score: 6/10

Dialogue: 6.5/10

Logic In The Film: 6/10

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr. is the third film in the Ace Ventura films. Film genres the film encompasses are adventure, comedy, and crime. Run time for this film is one hour and thirty-three minutes. The Three main actors and actresses in the film are Josh Flitter (Known in The Greatest Game Ever Played, Nancy Drew, Big Momma’s House 2, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Emma Lockhart (Known for Batman Begins, The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr., and Special Ed), and Ann Cusack (Known for Grosse Pointe Blank, Accepted, Stigmata, and Tank Girl). Directing Credits go to David Mickey Evans (Known for Sandlot, Radio Flyer, and Ed). A quick Summary of the film is “The son of a nutty pet detective steps up to the plate after his mother is accused and arrested for stealing a baby panda.” Let’s take a deeper look at the categories shall we?

Interest: Interest in the film for me somehow is never like the first two, but keeps me hooked, possibly in hopes that it grabs that interest and humor. I also understand that it is a kids movie vs a teenage/ adult movie the originals were, but I found it to have a charm that I liked, plus some scenes that made me cringe and some memorable quotes like “Don’t taze me bro!”. Either way I was interested the whole time.

Acting: For a movie that was just released immediately to TV, it didn’t do so bad for what it is. Everyone acts like most of the kids movies 90’s babies have watched (Me personally I think of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie) If it was made first, It’d be a great prequel of a movie for the other two films, but since we have such fond memories of the first two films, this film seems super terrible. And while it barely makes it to okay, it isn’t such a heaping pile everyone thinks it is. I think the acting is pretty solid, and does the series at least some justice, but definitely isn’t perfect. Possibly Josh who is Ace Jr., he may have been the weak link in the film at the beginning but eventually gets in a groove all his own, and makes it alright.

Storyline: The Storyline is shallowly dense. What I mean is a ton of stuff happens very quickly, and the arcs last the hole movie. Now some of the things, they are something that could be resolved kind of quickly, but Ace Jr has a competency level of a chocolate bar out in a black car on a sunny day. But because there are so many things going on at once it is hard to say it doesn’t have a story, it is just convoluted, plus it's a boy finding out that he is a pet detective, and where his place is in the universe.

Intensity: The intensity in the film was pretty non-existent on a movie level. If you’re a kid watching it, it’ll grab you and be super cool! Anything that is meant to be intense ends up diffusing into a “comedic” moment that is hit or miss, sometimes even doing something very cringy.

Fights, Guns or Otherwise: Fights in this film are typically just some bullying because Ace J. promised everything would be fine, and yet they aren’t so people get payback for the broken promise. But otherwise, nothing is to terribly bad. Verbal razors being launched at each other do happen fairly regularly, although it is a bit funny.

Nudity: There was no nudity in the film and there is no need for nudity in this film. I don’t think nudity would have helped the film in any way to help progress the story.

Director Score: David Mickey Evans I think did an alright job for what it is. He casted fairly well, His shots were decent and fun, while also giving some sort of life to a kids movie. And as this film was a direct to TV movie, and a kids' movie, the movie seems shot to seem campy, even if it goes everywhere, and I thoroughly enjoy it.

Musical Score: Music in the film for the most part is mood setting, AKA it is ambient noise that you don’t really notice. That being said It seems like they use some music from the first movie, Otherwise the movie was alright.

Dialogue: The dialogue is good and may remind you of being a child. He’s unsure of his place in the world, doesn’t know anything about his dad, and does typical kids things to win arguments against his mom. Sadly The rest of the dialogue is definitely a made for TV movie that doesn’t try hard at all for any depth, and it shows, but the dialogue may cause some laughter, and maybe even a scoffing or snorting.

Logic in the Film: Logic in the film is alright. Nothing too outrageous happens. Although I find it strange that pretty much everyone wears clip-on ties, and if the have patches on their shirts it is a Velcro patch. But otherwise there are no cartoon physics, nothing seems out of place besides strange throwing physics, and some sliding. The logic that the film has on just a logic standpoint is also good. Not genius, but nothing too crazy.

So did I like the movie? It was okay. Would I watch it again? Possibly, If we are ripping on it sure, and maybe once a year I may watch it for fun. It isn’t the first two movies at all, just so we are all clear, but it was never meant to be those movies. It is meant to be the kids' version of those movies, for the people who grew up with the originals. The movie is fun and entertaining and I found myself chuckling throughout the whole film, even with the cringe moments that exist. It also has a good story about finding yourself as a kid and finding who you need to be, and I think it does well for that type of exploration, without turning into a movie strictly about that. I give the film a 51%. It isn’t a bad movie, it really is just average. Until Next Time!