Thinking of Film
Really liked Eddie Murphys dr dolittle films. Fun fun fun. Wish he had done a 3rd 👍
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/20/24
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SkyRo P
I would definitely recommend Dr. Doolittle. I think it's actually a fun movie and it's something different. It gives Eddie Murphy a different light, and a more sensible parent role as well as taking care of these animals.
This movie has spun off sequels, and a reboot and everything, so for this movie also to be considered rotten blows my mind, I don't think the first one is now everything after this I thought were rough
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/07/24
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Ashley H
I did enjoy the movie. But wouldn't take the time to go watch it twice.
comedy, but not hilarious.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
10/30/23
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Adam E
A modern and rather loose take on the classic children's story, the Dr. Dolittle movie from 1998 sees Eddie Murphy's doctor slowly realize that either he can actually talk to animals or he is losing his mind entirely.
The film opens with a young John Dolittle discovering his talents before he is encouraged by his father to forget about all that, which he does well into adulthood. Now a successful doctor and surgeon in San Francisco, John is about to join his family on vacation when he bumps his head almost running over a dog and his abilities promptly return. Not knowing what to make of that, he struggles to come to terms with it all and panics trying to hide his secret from others until he can't. Meanwhile, John's colleagues are trying to set up a meeting with the owner of a medical company who has shown interest in purchasing John's practice. When a tiger from a circus shows signs of a possible neurological issue, John has to decide whether to step in and save its life, others be damned, or try to live a normal life.
There's not much more to this light-hearted comedy story-wise and, in fact, the tiger plot only really becomes relevant right at the end, with two thirds of the film dedicated to John Dolittle freaking out about his animal chats. Dr. Dolittle was a box-office hit, hot off the success of The Nutty Professor a couple of years earlier, and Eddie Murphy proved once again that he could single-handedly elevate material that, in lesser hands, might not have worked well at all. Unfortunately, Dr. Dolittle lacks the laughs that The Nutty Professor delivered and feels very slight in comparison. The animals, who are sometimes CG'ed, sometimes puppets, and voiced by the likes of Chris Rock, Norm MacDonald and Albert Brooks, get the bulk of the lines here but they're rarely funny.
The writing is the main problem with this movie which, not only lacks genuine laughs but fails to give Eddie Murphy anything to work with, though he definitely does his best to keep things entertaining at least. Not to mention that John Dolittle doesn't so much go on an adventure as he does whine and complain for an hour about what is obviously a very cool power to have. This routine gets tiresome fast and, even though the supporting cast is solid (Oliver Platt, Peter Boyle, Jeffrey Tambor, Paul Giamatti), they're only really there to fill time until the inevitable animal fart joke and keep the non-kids who are watching this from giving up on it completely.
This Dr. Dolittle is harmless enough and younger viewers will be reasonably entertained but this needed a stronger plot, perhaps one focused on the tiger at the circus, and a lot more laughs to make it worth sitting through because, as it stands, this is just not very good.
Disappointing.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
10/27/23
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StephenPaul C
LOL, the funniest 01 hour: and 25 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!! In memory of Peter Boyle, who played Calloway in this movie and Norm MacDonald as the voice of Lucky. Rated PG-13 for Language, and Crude/ Sexual Humor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starring Eddie Murphy as Dr. John Dolittle, and Raven-Symone as his oldest daughter, and Kyla Pratt as his youngest daughter!!!!!!!!!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
04/12/23
Full Review
Red T
One of the more passable Eddie Murphy Comedies Post 80's. The acting is ok overall, the supporting cast human and animal are just forgettable and generic for the most part. Eddie Murphy is actually not bad here and does a half decent job being charming and energetic. The Hamster Rodney gets annoying after awhile also. The jokes however fall flat pretty much every time especially the toilet humor ones which there is a lot of. The cinematography is ok with nothing really special set or camera-wise. The CGI on the mouths of the animals is ok enough here, I've definitely seen worse. The music isn't bad here and neither is the pacing as this moves along quickly and stays focused on Dolittle. The editing is ok, again this would've been a lot better if they had toned down the humor which really takes away lot of the charm this film has underlying it, which is quite a bit surprisingly. This could have been a much better film if they had less animals in it and had Dolittle focus on growing relationships with only a small handful rather than dozens and treated them more seriously than punchlines for flat/bad jokes. Overall if you like Murphy or animals than give this a watch, otherwise you can skip it. It's a bit of a shame this wasn't taken more seriously and had more care put into it like a Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Also next time don't have the animals animated with CGI mouths, just train them really well and have good voice actors.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/23/23
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