10 Films With Awesome Animated TV Shows You Forgot Existed

9. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

One of two Jim Carrey features to get the cartoon treatment, Ace Ventura was one of the nineties' greatest and most fondly remembered properties. Surprisingly enough I actually got into the films through the cartoon show, having first caught it through re-runs on Fox Kids around the time its third season premiered in 2000 - so I guess the series did its job there?

Pet Detective itself follows the premise of the films, in that a wacky and obnoxious private investigator concerned primarily with animal crime takes on all kinds of crooks to a comedic conclusion. But you already know this, and if you're at least vaguely familiar with the films, then you'll be familiar with the show too. It's basically the same, the only difference being that Michael Daingerfield voices the eponymous detective and not Jim Carrey.

Mirroring the cartoonish elements of the film franchise, Pet Detective turned up the zaniness to eleven, complete with slapstick noises and a soundtrack born to satire the blaring saxophones of Lethal Weapon's score. Ventura himself is still a highlight obviously, but the animals take up quite a big role as well, with his pet monkey - Spike - providing a fair amount of comic relief over the course of the series' duration.

If you're looking to rekindle your environmentalist roots, or just fancy indulging in some Carrey-themed madness, then you could do a lot worse than Pet Detective.