THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Doctor John Dolittle has been a popular character of literature due to first appearing in children’s books from 1920 to 1952. The first film adaptation in 1967 lived to be a classic and the 1998 version impressed modern audiences. With impact like that, it felt like studios could never go wrong. Sadly, their luck ran out with their 2020 adaptation.
PLOT
Dolittle takes place in Victorian era Britain and follows the titular character who can talk to animals. After the death of his wife, he chose to live quietly away from the world, tending only to animals. That all changes when he encounters Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett), a boy who accidentally shot the red squirrel Kevin (Craig Robinson). The boy found the doctor’s home with aid of the macaw Polynesia (Emma Thompson). He lives with many animals besides Poly that include: the polar bear Yoshi (John Cena), a bespectacled dog named Jip (Tom Holland), a cowardly gorilla named Chee Chee (Rami Malek), the scatterbrained duck Dab Dab (Octavia Spencer), and the neurotic ostrich Plimpton (Kumal Nanjiani). After saving the squirrel’s life, he also meets a girl named Lady Rose (Carmel Laniado) who informs that Queen Victoria (Jesse Buckley) seeks his presence. Upon arrival, the queen reveals to be ill and the only way to cure her is the forbidden 'Eden' fruit in the island of Sumatra. The next morning before leaving, Poly, Betsy the giraffe (Selena Gomez) and Tutu the fox (Marion Cotillard) help Stubbins sneak away from home and board Dolittle's ship. Jip gives company to the queen while the other animals join the doctor on the journey. As it progresses, they encounter John's medical school rival Blair Mudfly who wants to get the cure before he does. They all are able to avoid him by harnessing a whale, pulling them faster to the island. Since their map doesn't have an exact pinpoint on the island's location, they must take the journal of Dolittle's wife, which is in the hands of her father King Rassouli. Reaching his island, the mosquito (Jason Mantzoukas) leads Stubbins to sneak in the king's room, but is spotted before he could retrieve the journal. Dolittle gets made as well and Rassouli throws him in a cage with the tiger Barry (Ralph Fiennes), who felt abandoned by him for not providing him the therapy he needed. As he tries again, Dolittle and Stubbins are rescued by the other animals. But Mudfly takes the journal and destroys the doctor's ship. To honor his daughter, Rassouli loans Dolittle a ship to reach the other island. With aid of whales to follow Mudfly, they make it to the fruit's island but both groups encounter a dragon who's protecting the cure. Mudfly falls into a hole during the conflict, but a post credit scene would reveal he survived the fall, only to be attacked by bats (likely eaten as well). The dragon spares Dolittle and his company when they cure its bellyache by performing an enema, removing a bagpipe and armor from its rectum. In return, they get to take the fruit. Luckily, they arrive to the queen's home and cure her in time. As she wakes up better than ever, Lord Badgley is arrested due to proof of arresting the queen with nightshade. After being praised by the one he saved, the film ends with Dolittle deciding to reopen his sanctuary and officially appoint Stubbins as his apprentice.
THOUGHTS
You know I don't think anyone was sure what to expect when they heard about this movie. I wanted to give this movie a chance and see if it had something special at hand, due to my soft spot for the ones that starred Eddie Murphy. This one however drops its potential and becomes a hot mess. Director Stephan Gaghan and those involved with reshoots fail to bring the magic this movie was supposed to have. Because of that, Dolittle is not entertaining from beginning to end. I can never tell if this thing had any momentum when the story progresses because that is how bland it was. The second I wasn't liking it, I wanted to stop the movie and move on with my life. Not even Danny Elfman's score could make this movie exciting or thrilling as it could have been. I think the common reason viewers chose to watch this movie is because of Robert Downey Jr. as the titular lead, considering this was his first role after concluding his run as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While I respect the actor's efforts on bringing new energy to the role, this was not enough for me because it looks like he's trying too hard here. While he seems to be the one that was actually trying to give a good performance, I can't say the same with the rest of the cast. Every single voice actor for the animals was annoying as hell and that hurts when I say it because this is a first for a common trope like this to annoy me. Every respected actor was just way over the top as if it was intentional to annoy myself and everyone watching. The second I heard Chee Chee scream out of fear of Stubbins, I knew I was in for something bad. Going back to the live action cast, I'm just at the point of being plainly annoyed of Michael Sheen. I mean the guy is great on television yet fails to impress me on the big screen and it's no exception here because the whole point of playing Mudfly is to be annoying, yet I still hate him for it. Is it in Jim Broadbent's contract to do bad movies? Because I see a pattern when watching this, The Legend of Tarzan and King of Thieves. He brought zero depth to the limited screen time he had and it looked like all he was told was to look surprised and look mean, than you'll get your check. And then there's Antonio Banderas. First he gives a great performance out of Pain & Glory but goes so bland here with the role of King Rassouli. He's supposed to be a grim dictator who's mourning for his daughter but he fails to bring anything to spice it up. Everything I have said is so bad because the script doesn't make anything work out due to being uncreative, unoriginal and irritating. Getting into this story, how the hell did Rose get inside the sanctuary when Stubbins had to be guided by Poly? If she was lucky to see another shortcut, I'd rather see that than following Poly. And how did she not know it was his house if his name is plastered on the goddamn entry? I get that it's supposed to be funny on Kevin being afraid of Stubbins but how does he not know he went out of his way to save him? That is what you call an unnecessary joke. I also thought it was dumb on how Betsy comments the bridge not being complete when she had been running towards it for a long while. Although I find it confusing on having a whale to make a ship go faster, I have a hard time believing that Dolittle had the equipment to make it possible just incase. It makes sense to be in disguise to not be spotted by anyone in Rassouli's island but Stubbins didn't need one, there's no bounty on him, making his disguise pointless. While I can question Will Arnett voicing a kangaroo, I'm more confused on why the kangaroo is in a cell. If you spent a lot of time giving a backstory for Barry, you might as well do the same for his cellmate. They definitely messed up on insect research because I do not believe Poly recognized James whereas dragonflies have a 6 month life span. If Dolittle and Poly have been away for a long time, James should be dead. The second I saw Rassouli watch Dolittle give himself a pity party, I kept saying to myself how he was gonna have a change of heart and by the time he loans him a boat, I shouted "Called it!", proving how unoriginal this movie is. And lastly, the entire dragon sequence made me shout "God Fucking Damn It!" because it is a stupid climax we did not ask for and I wish it didn't exist at all like the rest of this movie. To get this over with, Dolittle is easily one of the worst movies in 2020 and I hope I don't ever see it again. If I do, then someone is likely forcing me to. If you are a fan of the books and like the other movies, good luck with this one.
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