DOLITTLE – Review

Only less than three weeks into the new year and there’s a new flick opening today celebrating the centennial of a much-beloved character of children’s literature. Yes, the medical man who could “talk to the animals” arrived on the printed page, with words and pictures by Hugh Lofting, way back in 1920. It would seem that such a fantastical creation would get scooped up by the fledgling cinema arts. And in 1928 he was the star of a silent animated short by the legendary Lotte Reiniger. Aside from an early thirties NBC radio show he stayed on the shelves of bookstores for over 30 years until the execs at Twentieth Century Fox, encouraged by the “boffo” box office numbers generated by MARY POPPINS and THE SOUND OF MUSIC, produced an epic “mega-musical” event. And though it earned two Oscars (for Best Song and Best Visual Effects) DOCTOR DOLITTLE almost bankrupted the studio. But it proved bountiful for George Lucas ten years later. Fox lost so much on DD’s merchandising “blitz’ that they agreed that he should retain those rights for his weird lil’ “space thing”. Flash ahead 30 years and Eddie Murphy takes the doc into the modern world for a series of family comedies lasting ten years (though he starred in only the first two, with the other three going straight to home video). Now the “doctor is in”… the original time period of the mid 19th century as he embarks on an adventure fantasy (though no giant snails or two-headed llamas this time) comedy in the flick simply titled DOLITTLE.

A whimsical animated prologue gets us up to speed on the current state of the good doctor. Yes, he worked on humans until he was given the gift of communicating with all members of the animal kingdom. Speaking of royalty, Queen Victoria gives him the land which becomes his (and his animal pals) sanctuary. Eventually, Dolittle takes on a medical partner, Lilly, who becomes his wife. But she has an appetite for exploration and embarks on a voyage while he stays behind to tend to their “friends”. When she is lost at sea, Dolittle becomes a hermit, shielding himself from humanity within the gates of the wildlife sanctuary. That all changes when a young lad named Stubbins (Harry Collett) gets in, with the help of a parrot named Polly (voiced by Emma Thompson), and seeks medical aid for a squirrel he has accidentally wounded. Oh, and another pre-teen joins him, a member of the royal family, Lady Rose (Carmel Laniado), to ask for the doctor’s help. The very shagged haired reclusive Dolittle (Robert Downey, Jr.) wants to be left alone. But as he tends to the squirrel, Rose tells him that the Queen is in a coma and reminds him that if she succumbs, Dolittle will lose his land. After a quick clean-up, the group reports to the castle where he examines Victoria (Jessie Buckley), despite the protests of her personal physician (and Dolittle rival) Dr. Mudfly (Michael Sheen). The prognosis is quick, the only cure comes from a plant on a faraway island. With Stubbins and the “menagerie” as crew, Dolittle sets sail in an old vessel. Ah but Mudfly secretly follows in a battleship, for it seems that his co-conspirator Lord Badgley (Jim Broadbent) lusts after the throne. Will they scuttle Dolittle’s quest before he can find the antidote and save his (and the animals’) home?

In his first big movie after finishing his stint in the “Marvel movie universe” (sorry, if that’s a spoiler but it’s been nine months now), Downey appears to be establishing a new franchise that can start with fans a bit younger than those of his armored avenger. That’s a bit doubtful. As with that last role, he gets to be a mentor (here with Stubbins instead of Spidey) and relies more on brains than brawn (his animals pals have the muscle). Plus he gets to use more of the physical slapstick training from his CHAPLIN days (over 25 years now…really) as he flits around his study and sailing ship. The big setback here is verbal as he adopts a Scottish accent that is often hard to decipher is it tends to drift quietly away towards the end of the dialogue. Actually it looks like all of his lines were “post dubbed” which adds another disconnect to the often too “cutesy-quirky” doc/vet. Collett is an energetic bright-eyed apprentice who helps ground Dr. D. Unfortunately Sheen’s considerable talents are squandered as a campy buffoonish villain who’s always teetering on the verge of hysteria (maybe some decaf tea would help). Another adversary to the good doctor is Antonio Banderas who grumbles and growls as the ill-tempered king of the pirates, ruling a faraway island. His low-pitched line readings seem more suitable for one of the critters. As for the “guest voices” of the said animals, the comic actors fare best. Especially Kumail Nanjiana as Plimpton the ostrich (hey his vocal work as a lil’ CGI alien in MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL was the highlight of that dud), and Jason Mantzoukas as the hyper dragonfly James. The biggest waste of talent here is casting the wonderful Ms. Buckley (superb as last year’s WILD ROSE) as the dozing Victoria. Well, at least she was spared much of the stilted script as she awaited her cure.

The more surprising part of this ill-conceived project is its director, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of TRAFFIC Stephen Gaghan. Perhaps a lighter touch was needed, though the script, credited to him and three(!) other scribes careens and bounces around nearly as much as the CGI critters, who as least look consistently better than their JUMANJI brethren. It all feels a tad disjointed as if the first two episodes of a streaming TV kid’s show were stitched together (“Dolittle Meets Two New Human Friends” and “Dolittle at Sea”), particularly when it shifts to Indy Jones Jr. mode on the magical island. That leads to the awkward inclusion of that fantasy flick staple: a fire-breathing dragon, though it’s ferocity and ailments are softened for the kiddos’. Ah, but to avoid a dread “G” rating there are plenty of “gross-out” body function gags (indeed) and anachronisms (references to the pop culture of the next century or so). As often is the case many adults may be forgiving of this flick as it is intended for the “kinder crowd”, but the artists at Pixar, Disney Animation, and others never set the bar so low as they make entertainment that’s truly for all ages. What we’re left with here is some great costumes and art direction hidden by lots of computer-generated noisy (the animals talk so much we wish they’d pipe down for a bit) chaos. DOLITTLE does little more than kill time at a weekend at the multiplex.

1 Out of 5