Universal Pictures
The ‘Dolittle’ series has seen many different forms throughout the years. In 1967, Rex Harrison starred in Doctor Dolittle, which was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Several decades later, Eddie Murphy starred in two films, Dr. Dolittle and Dr. Dolittle 2. Those films eventually spawned three sequels starring Kyla Pratt as Dolittle’s daughter. Those films were straight to DVD movies that were horrendous. Now Robert Downey Jr. steps into the role of Doctor Dolittle after his successful role of Iron Man came to an end. Unfortunately for Downey, this wasn’t the best role for him post-Avengers.
The story of this new Dolittle film is similar to the other films that came before. Dolittle lives in solitude in his 19th century England manor. His only companions are animals that he is able to talk to. A young girl seeks Dolittle’s assistance to save a young Queen Victoria, as she has become ill. Dolittle embarks with his animals and a young boy to a mythical island to find a cure. The idea of someone talking to animals in films always intrigues me and I’ve enjoyed three of the ‘Dolittle’ films so far. The cast here is amazing. Lending their voices to some of the CGI animals, the cast includes John Cena, Tom Holland, Octavia Spencer, Selena Gomez, Rami Malek, Emma Thompson, Craig Robinson, and Kumail Nanjiani. Even though this has an impressive cast, this isn’t one of the seven ‘Dolittle’ films that I enjoyed.
Not once in the film did I feel that Dolittle connected with the animals in his care. Despite the great voice cast in the film, Dolittle spent more time talking at the animals rather than talking to them. The CGI animals within the movie didn’t provide much chances either for Dolittle to connect with them because they spend most of the film arguing with one another or randomly yelling. Since he wasn’t able to connect with the animals, his powers of talking to animals didn’t seem that impressive to me.
The film takes its time getting started. A lot of the beginning of the film is spent exploring Dolittle’s manor, the animals in the house, and explaining the journey Dolittle needs to go on to save the Queen. By the time Dolittle sets off on his journey with his trusted companions, I was no longer interested in the character, the story, or the animals. The charm Dolittle and hearing the animals talk wore off quickly and the film became a chore to watch.
The CGI for the animals isn’t impressive either. The previous ‘Dolittle’ films all used real animals, but were limited to more common animals. This Dolittle has such animals as a polar bear, ostrich, dog, and gorilla living with him. I understand those would be some hard animals to film on screen, but the CGI makes the conversations and interactions amongst humans and animals seem so fake.
Dolittle was a film that severely lacked excitement and charm. It could have worked with the voice cast, but they couldn’t provide any characteristics for the animals. Dolittle will go down as one of the most forgettable films of 2019 and I hope Robert Downey Jr. can pick a better role for his next film.
Dolittle has a run time of 1 hour 46 minutes and is rated PG for some action, rude humor and brief language.
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