 Movie
Reviews
with Evelyn Gough.
Dr Dolittle 2 (PG)
Directed by Steve Carr
It's going to be very difficult finding something kind to say about this film.
The original Eddie Murphy comedy Dr Dolittle was far from brilliant, but at least it was reasonably entertaining. Unfortunately it made a lot of money – so the studio, in its wisdom (if that's the word), decided to inflict this sequel upon the world. Pity they forgot it was supposed to be comedy.
 Doo-doo: Eddie Murphy fails to deliver in Dr Dolittle 2.
A (thankfully) subdued Eddie Murphy stars once again as the vet whose remarkable talent allows him to understand what his patients are barking, meowing, quacking, mooing (you get the picture) about. This has bought him fame, fortune and his fair share of problems. Busy sorting out a family 'crisis', (his 16-year-old daughter Charisse, played by Raven Symone, is dating the pizza delivery boy) the last thing Dolittle wants is to be hassled – especially by some wildlife whose homes are being threatened by loggers. But after meeting the Godfather-like Beaver and seeing the devastation caused by the clearfelling he agrees to do all he can to help the animals.
Easier said than done. The only thing that will save the forest is if an endangered species is living there and having lots of little endangered babies. No such luck. There is a bear in there, and she's rare, but there's only one and everybody knows it takes two to tango.
Ava (voiced by Lisa Kudrow) is a Pacific Western Bear. The only Western Male Bear available to propagate the species is Archie (voiced by Steve Zahn) but he was born and raised in the circus.
Doolittle has a month to acclimatise Archie to life in the forest and make him irresistible to Ava. Otherwise it's hello Mr Chainsaw, goodbye cute furry animals.
There are plenty of worthy messages in Dr Dolittle 2, about protecting the environment, etc, but a comedy is the wrong place for an earnest morality tale. It ends up with funny jokes becoming the endangered species in need of protection – I haven't been this bored at the movies for a long time.
Who this film appeals to is difficult to imagine, although I'm guessing from the amount of banal toilet humour that the filmmakers are targeting a young audience. Let's hope so anyway, but I would recommend this for real littlies, going from the reaction of an entire family at the session I was at.
Despite the best efforts of Archie the bear and his buddies (the real ones and the puppets) and the magic of computer graphics making it extremely easy to believe the critters can really talk, they can't achieve the impossible and produce a decent film from a terrible screenplay.
Truly tragic. Rex Harrison must be spinning in his grave.
Rating: One star.
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