Film
Fierce Creatures
Fierce Creatures reunites the four stars of A Fish Called Wanda as strangers this time, running a zoo whose ruthless new owner demands only 'exciting' predators stay. It's broader and shaggier than Wanda, visibly patched together after famous reshoots, but there are real laughs in the chaos of keepers scrambling to save gentle animals from the cull. Best enjoyed as an affectionate curiosity, not a tight farce.
If you liked this
A Fish Called Wanda1988
The same four actors at their absolute sharpest, with a tighter, meaner script. Palin's stammering animal-lover is even funnier here, and the whole thing is pure wicked delight.
But You've almost certainly already seen it, and it may make Fierce Creatures look like the lesser cousin it kind of is.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels1988no page yet
A sleek con-artist farce with rival schemers escalating absurd plots along the French Riviera. Same gentlemanly deception, sharper dialogue, gorgeous scenery.
But Cooler and more suave than slapstick; if you wanted physical chaos, this plays it comparatively calm.
Clue1985
A single-location ensemble farce packed with oddballs improvising their way through mounting absurdity, with the same appetite for escalating chaos and character actors having a blast.
But It's a mystery-comedy, not workplace satire, and its campy, dated charm won't land for everyone.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
A Night at the Opera1935
Same engine as Fierce Creatures — ragtag staff outwitting profit-obsessed management inside a struggling institution — played by the masters who arguably invented the formula.
The Marx Brothers running verbal and physical anarchy through a stuffy institution, decades before Cleese and company did it with zoo animals. Gag timing that still holds up perfectly.
But Black-and-white, vaudeville rhythms and musical interludes may feel slow if you're used to modern pacing.

More like this (8)
We Bought a Zoo2011no page yet
Same literal setup — struggling zoo, financial pressure, staff fighting to keep it alive — played completely straight as warm family drama instead of farce.
But There isn't a joke in sight; it's sincere American sentimentality, the tonal opposite of what you just watched.
In & Out1997no page yet
Kevin Kline doing sharp, warm-hearted verbal comedy again, this time as a small-town teacher upended by outside scrutiny. Funny and surprisingly tender underneath the farce.
But Different subject entirely and a gentler register — less zoo chaos, more sincere coming-out story.
The Full Monty1997
Another British institution-under-threat comedy, full of working people scrapping for dignity with real warmth beneath the laughs. Same era, same island humour, more heart.
But It's closer to drama than farce, with no animals or slapstick — a different kind of comfort entirely.

Office Space1999
Trades cages for cubicles but aims at the same target: faceless management squeezing profit out of exhausted, disaffected workers. Deadpan, quotable, quietly furious.
But American slacker comedy rather than ensemble farce — cooler, drier, less physically chaotic.

What About Bob?1991no page yet
An outsider disrupting an established order and escalating everyone's misery into big, ridiculous laughs — the mounting-chaos engine at its purest.
But It's a two-hander, not an ensemble piece, and the genre is therapy-comedy, not workplace satire.
Zookeeper2011no page yet
If you just want more zoo-set silliness with talking animals and broad slapstick, this delivers exactly that, no thinking required.
But Considerably dumber and more kid-focused — a real step down in wit from what you just watched.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness2020
Swaps the fictional zoo farce for a real one, proving the greed and absurdity Fierce Creatures satirises weren't exaggerated at all.
A jaw-dropping, binge-friendly true story of exotic-animal owners locked in a bizarre war over money, ego and big cats. Stranger than any script.
But Genuinely trashy and exploitative, with disturbing animal-welfare details lurking under the spectacle — not a comfortable watch.

Fantastic Mr. Fox2009
The same tension between wildness and commercial domestication, told as a fable instead of a farce, with animals standing in for the compromised keepers.
Gorgeous stop-motion animation with dry, deadpan Wes Anderson wit, following animals torn between wild instinct and domesticated compromise. A family film that rewards adult attention.
But Much quieter and stranger, with no big farcical laughs — it's comedy in a very different, more melancholy key.

People
Cast
John CleeseRollo Lee
Jamie Lee CurtisWilla Weston
Kevin KlineVince McCain / Rod McCain
Michael PalinAdrian "Bugsy" Malone
Ronnie CorbettReggie
Carey LowellCub
Robert LindsaySydney Lotterby
Bille BrownNeville Coltrane
Derek GriffithsGerry
Richard RidingsHugh
Directing
- Fred SchepisiDirector
- Robert YoungDirector
- Jonathan BensonFirst Assistant Director
- Annie PennScript Supervisor
- Antony FordSecond Assistant Director
- Simon EmanuelThird Assistant Director
Writing
- Iain JohnstoneScreenplay
- John CleeseScreenplay
Production
- John EcclestonAssistant Accountant
- Judy BrittenAssistant Production Coordinator
- Priscilla JohnCasting
- Julia DuffCasting Associate
- Patricia CarrCo-Producer
- Martin EichelbergerExecutive Assistant
- Steve AbbottExecutive Producer
- Gill CaseLocation Manager
- John CleeseProducer
- Michael ShambergProducer
- Maggie PhelanProduction Accountant
- Andrew McEwanProduction Assistant
- Jo BurnProduction Coordinator
- Scott BatesProduction Runner
- Callum McDougallUnit Production Manager