Book #130: Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls by Marc Cerasini

 


Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

Marc Cerasini

 Released: October 17th, 1995

My 60th book for 2025 was Marc Cerasini’s “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls”.  

Ace Ventura is back, and this time he is burning a trail across Africa.

In this one, Ace is first seen attempting to rescue a raccoon survivor of an airplane accident.  This sequence is played out ala the classic Sylvester Stallone film "Cliffhanger".  As he attempts to save the creature, a safety harness fails, and his own grip is not strong enough to safe his furry friend.  As he goes into exile in a monk monastery in Tibet, Fulton Greenwall is sent to bring him to Nibia in search of a sacred bat that is the only peace standing in the way of a major war between two African tribes.  Ace takes the case, and sets off on a wacky adventure that is a little more ridiculous than his first outing.  After meeting the people who hired him, and then meeting the two tribes, Ace puts the pieces together to solve the case before anyone has to die for their tribe.

As with the first book, a lot of things are edited out to make it more child-appropriate.  A large example of this is the narrative around the daughter of the Wachatis and her relationship with Ace.  In the film, it is revealed at the end that princess is not a virgin due to a deflowering courtesy of the pet detective.  In the book, it is explained that shooting spitballs with a member of the opposite sex is a crime equal to adultery within the tribal culture.  It's a ridiculous narrative change but given the intended audience, and how many people know this book exists, we'll forgive it.

There are even additional things that never occurred in the film.  One example of this is when Ace is being told to turn around while saving the raccoon, he jumps on to the helicopter as he speaks with the pilots.  In the film, he remains on the mountain and yells over to them.

Here is what I learned:

—————

  • Ace leaps from a mountain on to a rescue helicopter.
  • Ace fails to save a raccoon “Cliffhanger”-style from a plane wreckage.
  • After the raccoon incident, Ace lived with monks in an ashram, sort of like a monastery in the Tibet mountains.
  • Fulton Greenwall is an Englishman sent by the African government to hire Ace got a case finding a sacred bat.
  • The head monk floats in the air.
  • “I must apologize.  Although I have struggled to attain spiritual greatness, I still derive pleasure from messing with people’s heads.”
  • Fulton offers Ace $20,000 even if he doesn’t find the bat.
  • Spine the monkey wears a turban.
  • The monks have a raging party to celebrate Ace’s departure.
  • Ace has a Slinky.
  • The Bonai Province is the most beautiful part of Nibia.
  • Ace likes Hootie and the Blowfish
  • The elephant’s name is Boba.
  • Vincent Cadby is the consul general.
  • Burton Quinn owns Quinnland Safari Park.
  • Hitu is the chief of tribal security.
  • Gahjii and Mick Katie are Australians who are known poachers seen in the area.
  • They arrive during the gorillas’ mating season.
  • The Wachatis did not know disease until the white man came.
  • Every young Wachati warrior must pass a two-year period of physical and mental tests.
  • Spitting at someone is a sign of great affection in the Wachati tribe.
  • Ouda is the chief’s oldest son.
  • Ace ears guano, or bat droppings.  He deserves it as a fruity paste.
  • Ace has a fear of bats.
  • Ace commandeers a robotic rhino.
  • The books differs from the movie in that Ace escapes through the rhino’s mouth.
  • Ace Ventura carries a taser.
  • Spike knows how to tase humans.
  • Quinn paid Derrick McCane to find the bat.
  • Badaga means “white devil”.
  • Gahjii has a very limited vocabulary.
  • Ace knows how to wrestle crocodiles.
  • A crocodile is a Jurassic ancestor.
  • There is a repeated line misprint on pages 145-146.
  • The Wachootoos outnumber the Wachatis 3-to-1.

—————

Overall, it's a silly book.  It covers the film and has minimal extra detail.  

Recommended only for Ace Ventura fans.  Everyone else, skip it.

On to Book #131: Iron Man: The Cal Ripken Jr. Story by Harvey Rosenfeld.

-----

Need to catch up?  See previous blog post: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

-----

Want to read about just this series?  See the other posts below:

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book #95: Clue #12: The Haunted Gargoyle by A.E. Parker

Image
  Clue #12: The Haunted Gargoyle A.E. Parker   Released: March 1st, 1996 My 25th book for 2025 was A.E. Parker's “Clue #12: The Haunted Gargoyle”.   General Summary: Here's something I'll bet you didn't know, there were a series of books written back in the mid-1990's about the Parker Brother's game Clue.  I grew up loving the Clue books.  They were set up in a similar manner to Encyclopedia Brown.  You would have an introduction where Mr. Boddy would introduce himself and welcome you to the mansion.  With the exception of the first book, he would typically explain how he survived death in the previous book.  He would then go on to introduce each of the 6 guests (including his maid).  Usually this would segway into the first chapter by a loud crashing noise, or some other startling interruption.  Readers are treated to 10-13 mysteries per book, and each chapter was a different story.  At the end of each chapter, you were given ...
Read more

Book #93: Clue #10: The Screaming Skeleton by A.E. Parker

Image
  Clue #10: The Screaming Skeleton A.E. Parker   Released: September 1st, 1995 My 23th book for 2025 was A.E. Parker's “Clue #10: The Screaming Skeleton”.   General Summary: Here's something I'll bet you didn't know, there were a series of books written back in the mid-1990's about the Parker Brother's game Clue.  I grew up loving the Clue books.  They were set up in a similar manner to Encyclopedia Brown.  You would have an introduction where Mr. Boddy would introduce himself and welcome you to the mansion.  With the exception of the first book, he would typically explain how he survived death in the previous book.  He would then go on to introduce each of the 6 guests (including his maid).  Usually this would segway into the first chapter by a loud crashing noise, or some other startling interruption.  Readers are treated to 10-13 mysteries per book, and each chapter was a different story.  At the end of each chapter, you wer...
Read more

Book #113: Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Gene Roddenberry

Image
  Star Trek: The Motion Picture Gene Roddenberry   Released: December 1st, 1979 My 43rd book for 2025 was Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".   I read some of the Star Trek novels way back in 2009.  My roommate Ed got me into the TV series as he was a passionate fan.  I found the books at the local Wonderbook, and became excited to see the adventures play out in literary form.  I read books [movies] 2-4.  The trilogy was epic, and I enjoyed it very much.  I continue her to collect the novels over time, and have always said I had hoped to read the series at some point.  That time is now.   I don't have a vivid recollection of seeing The Motion Picture, but know it came some time in 2009/2010.  It's arguably the most boring Star Trek film of them all (Yes, even Final Frontier has more action, flaws aside).  This was more of an intellectual Star Trek.  Roddenberry attempted to channel the more philos...
Read more