Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) is an American comedy directed by Tom Shadyac and starring Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura, an eccentric Miami private detective who specialises in finding missing animals. The story begins when Snowflake, the live dolphin mascot of the Miami Dolphins, is kidnapped shortly before the Super Bowl. Ace is hired by team representative Melissa Robinson, played by Courteney Cox, and his investigation leads him through football offices, wealthy collectors, police hostility, hidden identities and increasingly absurd detective work. The film was Jim Carrey’s major breakthrough as a film star, built around his physical comedy, elastic facial expressions, strange delivery and deliberately outrageous character work. Although structured as a detective mystery, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is primarily a manic 1990s comedy, turning Miami, professional football and animal rescue into a surreal playground for Carrey’s performance.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was filmed mainly in and around Miami, Florida, where the story is also set. Miami Beach and South Beach are especially important to the film’s visual identity, with Ocean Drive, Washington Avenue and the Art Deco district giving Ace’s world its colourful, slightly chaotic urban backdrop. Ace’s apartment was filmed at the former Campton Apartments at 1455 Washington Avenue, close to Española Way and the Cameo Theatre, placing his secret animal-filled home in the middle of South Beach. The opening delivery sequence uses Ocean Drive and nearby alleyways, while the Miami Dolphins storyline connects the film to Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami Gardens, the team’s home at the time, and the Orange Bowl in Miami. Villa Vizcaya in Coconut Grove appears as the mansion of Ronald Camp, where Ace and Melissa attend the party and Ace searches for Snowflake. The Ancient Spanish Monastery in North Miami Beach is used as Shady Acres, the mental institution Ace visits during the investigation. Together, these locations make the film feel unmistakably tied to Miami: beaches, stadiums, palm-lined streets, Art Deco buildings, luxury villas, football culture and eccentric institutions all become part of Ace Ventura’s bizarre detective world.
Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
Vizcaya Museum & Gardens has appeared in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Miami Rhapsody, Any Given Sunday, Bad Boys II, Iron Man 3 and Miami Vice.
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