Greatest Film Scenes
and Moments



Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)

 



Written by Tim Dirks

Title Screen
Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions
Screenshots

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)

This infantile-minded comedy sequel from director Steve Oedekerk - Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) - followed after Jim Carrey's earlier first hit Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994); the year before this film, Carrey scored with the comic-book, supernatural action film The Mask (1994) with great special effects, and the hilarious gross-out Dumb and Dumber (1994).

Both Ace Ventura films suffered from poor scripts, but had numerous wacky comedy moments from the rubber-faced, outlandish comedian. In this sequel with non-stop physical comedy, facial mugging, low-brow slapstick and sight gags, Ace - a parody of heroic Hollywood adventurers - engaged in another search - for a sacred great white bat ("Shikaka") amongst warring tribes in Africa's fictional nation of Nibia.

  • the film's opening credits sequence was a dramatic spoof of Cliffhanger (1993); in the Himalayas, pet detective, animal sleuth and expert zoologist Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey), wearing lederhosen, and with his pet Capuchin monkey Spike in a sack at his waist, was on a rescue mission after a plane wreck in a mountainous Himalayan area; a raccoon needed to be saved after it had escaped from its cage; during a mid-air recovery effort as Ace dangled from a rope above a cavernous valley, he tragically failed when his gear snapped and the raccoon (holding on to Ace's hand) fell to its death

Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey)

Regurgitating Into a Baby Bird's Mouth in a Nest During Rescue Effort

With His Pet Capuchin Monkey Spike
Opening Credits (Cliffhanger Parody)
  • Ace attempted to recover from the botched pet rescue, and his failed pet detective job by meditating with Tibetan monks in a remote monastery ("He came to us a broken man. He had lost the will to sustain his existence") where he was attempting to attain his meditative goals; meanwhile, British correspondent Fulton Greenwall (Ian McNeice) arrived at the monastery searching for ex-pet detective Ace, who was identifed thusly: ("He bends over and speaks from his rear")
  • Greenwall requested for Ace to perform services for him, to search for "a lost animal" (a stolen albino bat), for a reward of $20,000 dollars; Ace quickly changed his mind about remaining at the monastery after being vigorously encouraged by the master Ashram Monk (Arsenio 'Sonny' Trinidad) to leave, now that he had attained: "omnipresent super-galactic oneness"; the monks wildlly and drunkenly celebrated Ace's departure
  • before leaving the monastery and a life of contemplation, Ace directed a Slinky toy down a lengthy series of stone steps from the ashram - he missed "some kind of a record" when the Slinky stopped one step from the bottom
  • during the plane ride to Africa (to the fictional African country of Nibia), Greenwall explained how the "lost animal" was a sacred animal of the native Wachati tribe, and that their village was now thought to be cursed; there were escalating tensions between two tribes - the peaceful Wachati and the warlike "bloodthirsty" Wachootoo; the rare missing animal was the dowry to be offered by the Wachati Princess who was about to wed the Wachootoo Prince; if the sacred animal was not recovered, the Wachati tribe would be slaughtered
  • while driving in a Jeep in Nibia, Africa with Greenwall toward the British consulate, they passed an unexpected Subway sign, and Ace began singing spontaneously: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as he took a detour with the Jeep through the dense forest and splashed into a river; he perfectly maneuvered the Jeep into a vacant parking spot outside the consulate by rolling it over and bragging he had perfectly parked: "Like a glove!"; he then added: "You might wanna think about getting this baby detailed"

Subway Sign in Africa

Smashed Up Jeep Parked "Like a Glove" at the British Consulate

British Consul General Vincent Cadby (Simon Callow)

Ace Insulting Snooty High Society British Consul General

Another Target of Ace's Insults: A Pompous Woman With a Fox Fur Wrap and Her "Monopoly Guy" Husband

The Disruptive Ace Making Shadow-Puppets in a Projection Room During an Expedition Briefing
  • inside the consulate, Ace sized up the stuffy and snooty British Consul General Vincent Cadby (Simon Callow) as a "workaholic" who had purchased his fake Cartier watch on the N. African black market, and was too busy to take care of business during urination: "The urine stain on your pants would signify that you're a single-shake man! Far too busy for the follow-up jiggle"; Ace was introduced to Burton Quinn (Bob Gunton) with a black raven named Tinky on his shoulder - he was the owner and operator of the Quinnland Safari Park
  • at the foot of the mansion's stairs, "activist" Ace also targeted insults at a pompous high-society wife (Kristin Norton) with a fox fur wrap, who was being escorted by her bald and skinny husband dubbed the "Monopoly Guy" (Michael Reid MacKay): "That's quite a wrap you're wearing. Perhaps I could get you some fluffy new slippers made from the heads of innocent and defenseless baby seals!"; Ace also insulted the "Monopoly Guy" husband: ("Thanks for the Free Parking") before punching him out, carrying the unconscious man on his shoulders, and then dismissing him: "Do not pass Go! Do not collect $200!"; he then deposited him back in his wife's arms
  • Ace was instructed about his expeditionary mission during a briefing in a projection room, where he was shown slides of Derrick McCane (Thomas Grunke), a game hunter of "rare and endangered species" - and two Australian poachers: Mick Katie (Andrew Steel) and aborigine-raised Gahjii (Bruce Spence); Cadby announced the urgency of their expedition because the two tribes were on the verge of war: "This wedding's in four days. I cannot have bloodshed here!"; Ace disrupted the session by making lewd shadow puppets in the light; also after entering a Trophy Room, evidence that Cadby was an avid trophy hunter, Ace freaked out and screamed that it was "a lovely room of death"
  • once Ace arrived at the bat cave, he was shocked to find that he was on an expedition to find a rare white bat - a sacred tribal animal; it was unusual that Ace was commissioned on the search because he had a fear of bats; he acted out his fear: "What bat?...You didn't say anything about a bat!...Have you ever seen bats? They're hideous. Lifeless, beady eyes, clawed feet, huge grotesque wings. Even fangs. They give you rabies, you know....As a being of light, I must show compassion for all the living things of nature... I'm not touchin' it, though! No, spank you"
  • during a visit to a peaceful Wachati tribal African village, Greenwall and Ace met with the tribal Chief (Damon Standifer), who took a liking to Ace (by spitting in his eye); he was also spit on by the chief's son Ouda (Maynard Eziashi); Ace returned their affection by showering them with his own mucus-filled spit: ("It is the mucus that binds us")
  • Ace and Greenwall were reminded by the Wachati chief that unless the "great white bat" was returned before the Princess' marriage, the tribe would be slaughtered; unbeknownst to Ace, the stolen bat was a Great White bat known as 'Shikaka'; one of Ace's jokes was that upon the utterance of the bat's name 'Shikaka', the native tribespeople would bow down; Ace tried to trick two natives into bowing by mentioning similar names, such as "Shikasha," "Shishkebab," "Shawshank Redemption," and "ShicaaaaGO"
  • Ace watched the Wachati Princess (Sophie Okonedo) perform "the virgin's dance of seduction" (a belly-dance) for the tribe and then met privately with her, when she expressed doubts about not pleasing her future bridegroom: ("I am worried I will not please him. I've never known a man"); Ace volunteered to help the seductive maiden and they touched tongues, but then he claimed he had vowed to follow a life of celibacy; she dropped her clothes to assist in his decision; he stared directly at her bare breasts (out of view off-screen) but then declined: ("Those are very nice. But I am a child of light. A pure spirit. I am no longer encumbered by the appetites of the flesh"); shortly later, it was implied that Greenwall caught Ace masturbating, but he claimed he was repeating his mantra and meditating
  • on his own with a flaming torch, Ace fearfully entered into the sacred bat cave and threw his ashram's cross-medallion into the darkness, screaming: "Take that, you winged spawn of Satan!"; he suspected that Quinn was involved after finding a black feather from Quinn's raven inside the cave, before rushing out
  • as a "master of disguises," to the tune of Blues Traveler's "Secret Agent Man," Ace surveilled Quinn inside his Safari Park, where he also joined lions feasting on a dead zebra: (Ace: "Eat up, guys! None of this animal goes to waste")
  • in order to spy on Quinn who was involved in the theft of the great white bat, Ace hid in an animatronic rhinoceros ("I'm just a curious little rhino") to overhear his conversation with game hunter McCane - and then discovered that the rhino's cooling system had failed: ("Kinda hot in these rhinos...Warm"), forcing him to strip completely naked and squeeze himself out of the mechanical rhino's birth canal in order to get out - in full view of a group of shocked American safari tourists who thought they were witnessing a rhino birth! ("Oh, look! The mother rhino is giving birth!")
  • after Spike zapped Quinn in a room with many stolen, caged animals, the bat thief was bound and questioned by Ace under bright lights, and also threatened with a knife: ("Where is that darn bat?"); Ace also tortured Quinn by poking at his own eyeball, prompting him to confess that he had exchanged money with McCane: "I paid Derrick McCane to find the bat. I thought it could be an attraction. Business has been a bit off lately" - it was obvious that Quinn nor McCane were the original bat thieves
  • Ace was shot with many poisoned red blow-darts and passed out; he awoke in the care and company of the Princess and Greenwall; the Princess and Greenwall told him (inaccurately) that the blow-darts shot at him were ID'd as darts from the Wachootoo medicine man/shaman-witch doctor (Danny Daniels), who openly objected to the inter-tribal marriage between the Princess and the Prince and wanted war
  • Ace attempted to sneak into the Wachootoo tribal village with hopes of finding the bat, but he was captured at sword point; he was thought to be a "White Devil" ("Equinsu Ocha"), reinforced when Wachita tribal Prince Ouda (Maynard Eziashi), the chief's son translated his pacifist words as hostile (in subtitles): ("I come in peace" -- "I will harm you", and "The last thing we want is a fight. War is hell" -- "I want to fight, so go to hell")

Ace Shot with Red Poisonous Blow-Darts

Ace Captured in the Wachootoo Village

The Wachootoo Medicine Man/Shaman (Danny Daniels) - Calling Ace a "White Devil"
  • Ace faced various trials and challenges including walking across hot coals, and ejecting a baby from a pregnant female's belly; then the Wachootoo Chief (Sam Phillips) affirmed, through Ouda, that Ace's final test was a "Circle of Death" challenge - a dueling fight with the Wachootoo tribe's short statured tribal champion, the Tiny Warrior (also Tommy Davidson), who jumped out of a small backpack worn by a much larger warrior: (Ace (astonished): "This is it? I have to beat him?...Allrighty, then! I must tell you. I do not wish to fight you. Violence is no longer in my nature, but if you want it, you got it, sister")

After Passing All Tests But One

(l to r): Wachootoo Chief and Ouda

The Tiny Warrior in a Backpack

"Allrighty, then!"
Ace's Battle with the Tiny Warrior of the Wachootoo Tribe, Who Emerged From a Small Backpack - Ace Was Bitten in the Fist and Speared in Both Legs
  • when Ace went to punch the Tiny Warrior, he was bitten in the fist, and he exclaimed: "Biting, I see. I was unaware that the Wachootoos were biters!"; then, Ace who was clearly losing the fight taunted the warrior: "I'll have you know I have the reflexes of a cat. And the speed of a mongoose. Throw it! I dare ya!" but then was speared in the upper right thigh; and then, after being speared in both legs, he cried out: "It's in the bone, it's in the bone" and fell down, causing the natives and the Chief to laugh out loud at his humiliating defeat
  • due to Ace's entertaining performance, the native Wachootoo tribesmen and Chief released him, explained by Ouda: ("He says you make him laugh. You are like sissy girl! Wachootoo Chief say, 'You friend to Wachootoo.' But if the curse of Shikaka not lifted by tomorrow's sun at top of sky, Wachootoo kill all Wachati and smash your head on a rock"); as Ace left the village, he was shot again in the buttocks with another red blow-dart - but he realized that this recent dart carved from a mimosa tree was different than the ones shot at him earlier; the other ones had been constructed from a reddish fungus (known as acalla) by the two bat poachers from Australia; this discovery led Ace to understand that the Wachootoo tribe hadn't taken 'Shikaka' - the Great White Bat - instead, the bat thieves were the two Down-Under poachers
  • Ace had only a limited amount of time, until the next day at noon, before war would be declared between the two tribes; after locating the poachers' shack where the stolen bat was caged, Ace mimicked the sounds of a big, amorous female silverback gorilla to distract them; as they left their shack to go hunt for the valuable gorilla, Ace attempted to retrieve the bat, but they quickly returned, captured Ace and attempted to kill him by tying him to a raft and sending it over a waterfall with his pet monkey Spike; after surviving that peril, he also had to wrestle a Nile crocodile, and rode it like a bucking bronco
  • to solve the mystery of the bat theft, Ace began to consider the motive for the theft of the bat: ("There's something I missed. Some clue or motive I've overlooked...Someone wants the tribes to destroy each other. There must be something valuable in this equation...What is it the Wachati possess that is of great value to other men - besides the Princess with the amazing rack?"); he deduced that the key to the mystery was bat guano in the cave, after he consulted with the Ashram Monk at the Tibetan monastery via astral projection
  • he returned to the British consulate to confront Consul General Vincent Cadby and Greenwall about the corporate plot that they had orchestrated; it appeared that if the two tribes destroyed themselves, that would allow Cadby to legally gain access in the area to guano (bat-poo)-rich caves to financially benefit by selling the white powder as fertilizer: ("And you want that dukie so bad, you can taste it"); Ace added a religious component to his revelations: ("The day of redemption is at hand! Repent! And thou shall be saved"); he also realized that Cadby had used him as a scapegoat for his own crimes, and would blame Ace for stealing Shikaka: ("You were my alibi to prove I'd done everything I could to stop it"); his other co-conspirators, the two Australian poachers, also entered the room - with the caged Shikaka
Ace Confronting Cadby With His Conspiratorial Plot: "Repent!"
  • although Ace was arrested by the brawny, black chief of tribal security Hitu (Adewalé), he escaped by using 'animal talk' to get the consulate's elephant to obey him before riding off bareback; then, he summoned a whole herd of stampeding elephants and other animals to demolish the walls of the British consulate building and take over its interior: (Ace: "You see, humans and animals can live in harmony!"); Greenwall switched sides to aid Ace by punching out Cadby, while Ace sprayed and overpowered the two poachers with potent stink from the backend of a skunk
  • once Cadby regained consciousness, Ace was forced to pursue Cadby's Land Rover (with the Shikaka bat in a cage) in a monster truck, ending with Cadby's crash into a tree, causing the bat cage to become damaged and lodged in the fork of the tree; then, Ace mowed over the Land Rover with his truck; Ace overcame his bat phobia and was able to retrieve and rescue the bat bare-handed from the crushed cage
Ace in Monster Truck in Car Chase After Cadby (with the Bat)
  • Ace raced to the tribal villages with the bat flapping in his hands, in order to return it in time to avert war before noon; while Cadby fled on foot, he was caught between the two warring tribes - who paused their imminent attack when Ace also appeared with the bat between the rows of warriors: ("Coming through. Clear a path, people!"); Cadby was exposed as the real "White Devil"; he was pursued by both tribes and ultimately grabbed by a real amorous silverback gorilla in the bushes
  • the marriage between the Wachati Princess and the Wachootoo Prince (revealed to be the Tiny Warrior) proceeded as planned, and after they were pronounced to be "life partners," they retreated to their marriage hut; however, moments later, the Tiny Warrior emerged, complaining that the Princess was no longer a virgin (due to Ace who had broken his vow of celibacy and deflowered her); the film's last line of dialogue was Ace's question: "They can tell that?" - both tribes of angry natives turned on Ace and chased after him once again

Ace's Failed Rescue of the Raccoon


Fulton Greenwall (Ian McNeice) at the Ashram Looking For Ace



Ace Meditating (Surrounded by Wild Animals) in Tibetan Monastery-Ashram with Monks


Burton Quinn (Bob Gunton) - Safari Park Owner


Rare Game Hunter Derrick McCane Seen in Slide-Show

Two Australian Poachers - Seen in Slide-Show (l to r): Mick Katie and Gahjii


"A Lovely Room of Death" - An Animal Trophy Room


At a Bat Cave ("You didn't say anything about a bat!") to Greenwall

The Wachati Tribal Chief

Ace Attempting to Trick Tribespeople to Bow Down: "Shishkebab"

Ace with the Virginal Princess

Ace Consuming Carcass of a Dead Zebra



Ace's Spectacularly-Funny "Rhino Birth"


Ace's Torture of Quinn - Eyeball Poking


Australian Bat Poacher Gahjii (Bruce Spence) Carving a Red Blow-Dart From Acalla

The Bat Poachers' Cage Holding 'Shikaka' - The Great White Bat


Ace Tied to A Raft with Spike, Heading Toward a Waterfall


Ace Wrestling a Crocodile



Ace Practicing Astral Projection to Consult with the Ashram Monk to Learn the Motive For the Theft of the Bat


All of Cadby's Co-Conspirators


Ace Preventing War Between the Two Tribes - With the Return of the Bat


After the Marriage Ceremony - Tiny Warrior: "She's not a virgin!"

100's of the GREATEST SCENES AND MOMENTS

Greatest Scenes: Intro | What Makes a Great Scene? | Scenes: Quiz
Scenes: Film Titles A - H | Scenes: Film Titles I - R | Scenes: Film Titles S - Z