Rent Doctor Dolittle on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Hugh Lofting (stories Dr. Dolittle), Nat Mauldin and Larry Levin (screenplay)
Directed by: Betty Thomas
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Peter Boyle, Ossie Davis, Oliver Platt, Richard Schiff, Jeffrey Tambor, Raven-Symoné
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
A doctor discovers that he can communicate with animals.
Verdict
There's not much to this past the premise. This movie does barely enough to entertain children, hoping cute animals will do all of the work. Many of the jokes are crude; too juvenile for me and too much for what I assume is the intended younger audience. As an adult I was bored as this has only a couple of moments of being funny. That in no way justifies watching this movie.
Skip it.
Review
John is a boy that can understand animals, their thoughts. His dad thinks he's odd and tries to break him of acting on the habit. He grows up and forgets about animals. John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) doesn't even like animals as an adult. How do you forget that ability? Has he just ignored it? All of a sudden he notices animals talking to him again. What's the lapse, other than being convenient for the movie's plot?
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| Eddie Murphy plays John Dolittle |
John thinks he must be going crazy. Somehow he has forgotten he could do this as a kid, and this experience doesn't trigger a single memory. That's a crazy thing to forget. It makes no sense. The very premise of this movie is flimsy. Being a kids movie, it makes no attempt at a coherent plot. The goal is to get to the hi-jinks of this doctor trying to hide his ability while also wanting to help animals. John has to play this charade with everyone. Animals provide the cuteness factor, but that's all this movie has to offer. It pads the runtime with cute animals. Surprisingly some of the animals have adult problems like sexual dysfunction and alcoholism. Why would you bring that into such a benign movie?
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| Eddie Murphy plays John Dolittle |
John's wife begins to wonder about him, especially with all the animals in his home. His colleagues think he's lost it because he's treating rats in the office and giving them CPR. It's comical, and that's what this movie is after. John's balancing act reaches a breaking point when he treats a despondent tiger. That happens at a big event to commemorate John's practice being sold. He forsakes the event to treat the tiger. Everyone is watching this man that seems to be crazy, but as he successfully helps the tiger everyone starts to believe.
There's just so little to this. It wants to be cute, but the story doesn't even do the bare minimum. It easily could do more. With all these funny animals, the movie has all these crude jokes. I don't know what the audience is. The movie hopes that comedic animals that talk and Eddie Murphy are enough. There's no effort past that, and even what we get isn't that much of a lift.
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