DOLITTLE – “A peculiar mess”

dolittle

RATING

DIRECTOR

Stephen Gaghan (Gold – 2016)

STARRING

  • Robert Downey Jr. as John Dolittle
  • Harry Collett as Tommy Stubbins
  • Antonio Banderas as Rassouli
  • Michael Sheen as Dr. Blair Müdfly
  • Jessie Buckley as Queen Victoria
  • Emma Thompson as Polynesia
  • Rami Malek as Chee-Chee
  • John Cena as Yoshi
  • Octavia Spencer as Dab-Dab
  • Tom Holland as Jip

SYNOPSIS

Is based on the titular character created by Hugh Lofting, and primarily inspired by The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle book.

Dr. John Dolittle lives in solitude behind the high walls of his lush manor in 19th-century England. His only companionship comes from an array of exotic animals that he speaks to on a daily basis. But when young Queen Victoria becomes gravely ill, the eccentric doctor and his furry friends embark on an epic adventure to a mythical island to find the cure.

REVIEW SUMMARY

There's no denying it - Dolittle is a peculiar mess. For one, Robert Downey Jr. is uncharacteristically unlikeable as our titular doc, talking in a bizarrely subdued cadence and making odd acting choices (it's as if he wanted to show up Johnny Depp). There's also the fact that the story is fairly jumbled, perhaps leaving kids a little lost along the way. Making things worse, the many animals are given the laziest juvenile personalities one could imagine. The movie’s dialogue and infantile gags are also fairly lame here; enough to overshadow the few sparks of wondrous imagination we get. For example (and I kid you not), there is a scene where, in the process removing items from a dragon's rectum, our good doctor gets farted on... a lot. Dragon flatulence isn't quite how I expected Robert Downey Jr. to followed up his epic run as Iron Man. All this to say, Dolittle is one film that even animals should probably not be subjected to.

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