Ace Ventura Jr: Pet Detective 2009

Ace Ventura, Jr. (Josh Flitter) is an eccentric and offbeat private detective in Miami who has a knack for rescuing tame or captive animals. He copes with chronic rent struggles and enduring jabs from the local police, led by Lieutenant Einhorn, while he stumbles through a case that could redefine his career. When Melissa Robinson, the Miami Dolphins’ publicist, hires him to locate Snowflake, the team’s kidnapped Bottlenose dolphin and its mascot ahead of the big game, Ace dives into a world where every clue seems strange, yet somehow connected to a high-stakes sport spectacle.

The trail begins with a clue in Snowflake’s tank: a rare amber stone that hints at a possible owner among the world of ultra-wealthy exotic-animal collectors. This leads Ace to a powerful figure, a billionaire named Ronald Camp, and he crashes Camp’s lavish party, even surviving a tense encounter with a shark. Yet Camp itself isn’t the culprit; the amber ring on Camp’s finger matches the stone, but the ring itself isn’t missing. Ace’s instincts push him toward a deeper history, suggesting the amber could come from a 1984 AFC Championship ring, which would point to a member of the legendary 1984 Dolphins. He surveys the teammates, only to discover that all the rings are accounted for and intact.

Tragedy compounds the mystery when Roger Podacter, the Dolphins’ head of operations, dies under suspicious circumstances. The police call it suicide, but Ace is convinced it’s murder. His investigation threads toward Ray Finkle, a disgraced former Dolphins placekicker who famously missed a crucial kick in the 1984 Super Bowl and later blamed quarterback Dan Marino for the mishap. Ace learns that Finkle had been committed for homicidal tendencies after the Dolphins released him following that famous loss, and with Marino suddenly kidnapped, Ace suspects that Finkle is executing a revenge plot.

In a twisty turn, Ace goes undercover inside a psychiatric facility and stumbles upon a newspaper clipping about Einhorn. A key clue surfaces when Emilio snoops around Einhorn’s desk and uncovers a love letter from Podacter. With help from the animals in his apartment, Ace pieces together the pattern: Einhorn is actually Finkle in disguise. The stakes escalate to a dramatic confrontation at a yacht storage facility, where Einhorn/Finkle holds Marino and Snowflake hostage. In a decisive showdown, Ace exposes Einhorn as Finkle and reveals Podacter’s killer, leading to a violent arrest.

The finale erupts at the Super Bowl halftime, where the crowd cheers Marino and Snowflake, and Ace Ventura is celebrated on the jumbotron as a hero. The nightcaps with a comic clash against the Philadelphia Eagles’ mascot Swoop over a rare pigeon, drawing a standing ovation from the audience and sealing Ace’s unlikely victory in a case that blends sports hype with detective flair.