Review of
Dr. Dolittle
Reviewed by Rich Lee
Director: Steve Carr
Starring: Eddie Murphy,Kristen Wilson,Andy Dick,Lisa Kudrow,Norm Macdonald
There's something inherently funny about talking animals. Just ask Taco Bell
and Budweiser. But filling a 15-second commercial is one thing, filling an
entire 90-minute movie is quite another. One would think that
the "putting-funny-voices-in-a-rodent's-mouth" gimmick would grow old
by the first bathroom break. Common sense -- indeed, common decency -- tells us
that a talking-animal movie needs something else: a theme, a message or, at the
very least, a really good excuse.
Dr. Dolittle 2 offers none of these. At face value the film is pretty
much a comedy about talking animals. It is a string of jokes, one-liners and
pop-culture references delivered straight from the horse's mouth (and mouths of
various other creatures), tied tenuously together by a thin plot and Eddie
Murphy's comic genius. A swarm of bees shouting "wassup?" as they
sting their target, a beaver with a Godfather complex, a cheesy owl-raccoon
routine (Owl: Who? Raccoon: Archie! Owl: Who? Raccoon: I said it was Archie!
Owl: Who?) -- that last joke is about as complex as it gets.
This is not to say that the film isn't funny -- on the contrary, parts of it are
extremely funny. The voice acting is superb and Murphy has all but mastered the
Dolittle routine. But Dr. Dolittle 2 can only be taken as face value
because there is nothing else beneath. At least the children's book that
popularized the character offered some kind of glimpse into the human condition.
Heck even Babe left you feeling warm inside. Dr. Dolittle 2
doesn't even pretend to do any of that. You can't sympathize with the good
doctor because there is no development in the character. You can't root for the
animals that are fighting to save their forest because there is no sense of
right or wrong when it comes to man's relationship to nature.
At the end of the film, the first thing everyone thinks about as they get up to
leave is how much it would suck to be stuck inside a bathroom stall with a
900-pound bear taking a sh*t.
Dr. Dolittle 2 is entertaining, but only because it bundles its jokes
with a somewhat original gimmick. But be warned: talking animals are a hot item
these days, particularly with the soon-to-be released Cats & Dogs
and Planet of the Apes. If there is a Dolittle 3, we hope the
writers throw in something fresh in case the farting bear jokes start to smell a
bit stale.
