Mark Reviews Movies: DOLITTLE

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Review by Mark Dujsik | January 16, 2020

The adventures of Doctor John Dolittle, the veterinarian who can talk to animals (created by Hugh Lofting), seem like a no-brainer to bring to the big screen. Here we are, though, with the third lacking and easily the worst attempt to do so.

A cheery Rex Harrison spoke-sang his way through the 1967 Doctor Dolittle, an occasionally charming but meandering musical with mostly forgettable songs, and Eddie Murphy brought some of his humorful charm to 1998's Dr. Dolittle and its 2001 sequel (A few direct-to-video sequels, not featuring Murphy, followed those). In Dolittle, Robert Downey Jr. takes over the title role with the cheer, humor, and charm of a somnambulist.

It's not entirely the actor's fault, although his main idea of giving the character any distinct personality seems to be the iffy Welsh accent he grants the doctor. There are times, though, when even the most charismatic performers are undone by the material in which they must perform. Downey certainly doesn't help himself here, but just look at what's around him.

An aesthetically charmingly animated prologue sets up this version of Dr. John Dolittle as a former adventurer, who has become overcome by grief at the loss of the human love of his life. It's like the depressing sequel to the Dolittle stories that we never considered. After witnessing a few minutes of the frowny-faced and layabout veterinarian, living in total and unkempt despair in his unkept mansion, we quickly realize why such a take on the character never crossed our collective cultural mind.

This Dolittle begins as a sad, unmotivated mess of a man, and he ends the story in the pretty much the same place in terms of a character, despite the fact that the story tells us something completely different. Such is the obvious disinterest that comes to define Downey's performance. Some of it might be the weird, uncharacteristic depiction of the character in the screenplay, written by director Stephen Gaghan, Dan Gregor, and Doug Mand. Most it, though, might come from the fact that Downey is acting with the clear understanding that neither he nor any of the human characters is the star of this show.

That role belongs to the assorted animals, voiced by a collection of notable names and/or recognizable voices. In keeping with the psychologically wounded characterization of the previously good doctor, each and every one of the animals (save for Poly, the parrot, voiced by Emma Thompson, who taught Dolittle how to communicate with various creatures) has some sort of issue—mostly of the psychological variety.

Chee-Chee (voice of Rami Malek) is a timid gorilla who's terrified of any kind of confrontation. Yoshi (voice of John Cena) is a polar bear who's always cold and has problems making friends. Plimpton (voice of Kumail Nanjiani) is an anxiety-ridden ostrich, and that's just the start of Dolittle's menagerie of animal pals.

Outside of that group, there's also a tiger named Barry (voice of Ralph Fiennes), who has unresolved issues with his mother and brother, as well as a dragon (voice of Frances de la Tour), whose digestive system has become blocked by grief and centuries of eating people. Dolittle decides to help with that blockage in a scene that would defy belief in the explanation and, somehow, is even more bewildering to watch.

There's a plot, of course, which has Dolittle and his animal friends returning to adventuring: to find a mystical fruit, which could save the life of the poisoned Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley). Along for the sea journey to a thieves' paradise and the dragon's cave is young Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett), a sensitive boy who seeks the doctor's help for a squirrel he accidentally shoots and decides that, like Dolittle, he also likes animals more than some people.

The movie appears to have the same philosophy, because most of its humor and character development belongs to the animals. That's not to say there's much in the way of either of those qualities, but the filmmakers are certainly betting that the animals will be more appealing than any of the people here. Almost every scene is filled with computer-generated animals doing some sort of comedic business, especially during the hectically off-putting first act, in which Downey is shoved around and overwhelmed by his non-existent co-stars.

It must be dispiriting for an actor to know that a bunch of visual effects, presenting talking animals of the jokingly neurotic variety, will be upstaging his or her performance. That might not excuse Downey's work in Dolittle, but it's likely the main reason why his performance and the movie as a whole are as lethargic and charmless as they are.

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