Dolittle (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
Follow Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Distributor: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 101 minutes

Dolittle (Blu-ray) – Movie Review

Site Score
7.1
Good: Visuals, Story, Proper reboot
Bad: Feels a bit like a movie that nobody asked for
User Score
6.3
(3 votes)
Click to vote
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Rating: 6.3/10 (3 votes cast)

The story revolving around Dr. Dolittle has been told several times before, but most of us will remember the iconic family films with Eddie Murphy in the lead. We didn’t immediately expect a new entry in the series, or a reboot, as it felt like the story had run its course and was perfect for the time it was released. Nonetheless, when we saw a trailer of Robert Downey Jr. playing the renowned Dr. Dolittle, we were quite surprised. Also, the theme of having a modern doctor being able to talk to animals was replaced by going back to a nearly forgotten past, when traveling and fantasy adventures were still a thing. We were curious to see if this reboot in the franchise would elevate the series to today’s standards.

The movie starts off by showing us a happy couple, namely Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.), the man who can speak to animals, and Lily Dolittle (Kasia Smutniak), who is a renowned explorer. The couple leads a perfect and happy life, but things take a turn for the worse when Lily dies looking for the mysterious fruit from the Eden tree. The good doctor then becomes a reclusive man, who wishes to see no more new patients or any humans for that matter. Nonetheless, the years go by, and a new scenario pops up. Well, two actually.

We meet Stubbins (Harry Collet), who is being forced by his uncle to hunt wildlife, while he actually cares about every living being. He accidentally shoots a squirrel, who survives the blow, but is in need of medical attention. Stubbins then meets Poly (Emma Thompson), Dolittle’s parrot, who guides Stubbins to the mansion where Dolittle secluded himself. At the same time Lady Rose (Carmel Laniado) arrives at the mansion as well, asking Dolittle to save the queen, as she is deadly ill and requires someone who can think out of the box. While hesitant at first, Dolittle will find himself embarking on an adventure to find the fruit of the Eden tree, with the help of his many animal friends and his new apprentice, Stubbins.

For an adventure movie, the flow is quite predictable but that’s not necessarily a bad trait of a film such as this. You’ll be presented with a proper introduction and a quirky character that perfectly fits the narrative. After that, a problem arises and you’ll have a valid reason for an adventure to ensue. Of course, later on a new problematic situation will throw the good guys off their course, but as many may expect, a happy ending is on the horizon. While this formula is a tried-and-true formula and holds little surprises, there are a few fun curveballs thrown your way, in the form of humorous snippets in-between and decent adventure segments.

Most of the acting depended solely on Robert Downey Jr. and Harry Collet, who both play the leads in this movie, albeit the real-life leads. The cast gets supported by many other big names who lent their voices to this project. We see big names pop up such as John Cena, Tom Holland, Emma Thompson and so on. While it took some time to adjust to Downey Jr.’s accent for this movie, the cast does a formidable job bringing this adventurous family film to life.

The Blu-ray version of Dolittle comes with six extra features, which are all somewhat along the lines of making-of features. There will be snippets about how everything came to life, as well as about the different characters that are shown in the film. While most of these don’t add that much of value to the overall story being told, they are nice to watch after you’ve enjoyed the movie and want to get some proper insights into the development process.

Conclusion

While Dolittle is somewhat a redundant entry in the series, as it would not have mattered for many if it was created or not, it’s still a fun family movie to sit back and relax to. We were impressed with the cast that supported this project, as well as the feel-good story that went with it. While nothing can replace the well-known Eddie Murphy films, this movie is a great separate installment and vision of who Dr. Dolittle could have been.

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Rating: 6.3/10 (3 votes cast)
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)
Dolittle (Blu-ray) - Movie Review, 6.3 out of 10 based on 3 ratings
Ibuki


Aspiring ninja.

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