Dr. Dolittle 2 Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)July 10th, 2001
DR. DOLITTLE 2
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
In DR. DOLITTLE 2, Eddie Murphy repeats his role as the sweet doctor who has the gift of gab with animals. With female humans, especially his now dating, 16-year-old daughter Charisse (Raven-Symone), Dr. Dolittle is anything but the alpha male that he tries to get his animal friends to be.
A sometimes cute but too often flat tale, this sequel tries to get by with easy to devise, recycled humor ranging from piles of pigeon poop to a large, gaseous bear (voiced by Steve Zahn). Even the music choices lack originality. How many movies have featured "I Will Survive" recently? There are so many that I've lost count.
Sometimes redoing old themes can be funny. The best of these is a takeoff on THE GODFATHER, in which a beaver offers the doctor some fish in return for future services. When he refuses to accept the fish, Joey the Raccoon (voiced by Michael Rapaport) warns him, "Hey, the beaver offers you fish. You take the fish!"
Using the canonical kids' movie theme, the story features evil and unscrupulous big businessmen -- Are there any other kind in kids' shows? -- who are out to despoil the environment. Specifically, these guys, played by Jeffrey Jones and Kevin Pollak, work for a lumber company that is going to cut down trees so that people can live in houses. Shocking.
Still, some of the animals are cute. Pepito (voiced by Jacob Vargas), for example, is a chameleon with a "broken blender." No matter how hard he tries to switch color schemes, he just stays an icky green. And some of the scenes, like one involving a dog support group, in which the doctor has the dogs repeat in unison, "I am somebody's best friend," will bring a smile to your face. The result is an innocuous, but far from inspired film. Wait for video when the rental price will better reflect the value of the entertainment.
DR. DOLITTLE 2 runs 1:21. It is rated PG for language and crude humor and would be acceptable for most kids.
My son Jeffrey, age 12, gave it ***, liking the animal humor and the funny musical numbers. His cousins, Jacob, age 8, and Matthew, age 5, both gave it *** as well. Jacob's favorite part was "the bear going to the bathroom," and Matthew liked the talking bear parts best. None of them laughed much during the movie, but they smiled a lot.
The film is playing now in nationwide release in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.
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