Review of Dr. Dolittle

Introduction

It`s amazing what you can find on the Internet nowadays. For the small price of receiving endless spam, Twentieth Century Fox were willing to give away free copies of What Lies Beneath, The Full Monty or Dr Dolittle. Obviously my first question was, what`s the catch? It appears that there isn`t one, as after a lengthy wait, a copy of Dr Dolittle dropped on my mat, carefully labelled, "For Promotional Use Only". Yay, free movie.

John Dolittle is a successful Doctor and family man, working in a very successful practice. Deeply practical, he tries to instil his commonsense values in his two daughters, but John Dolittle has a past, a past which even he can`t recall. When he was very small, he talked to his pet dog. And his pet dog, talked back. When his personal and professional life begins to get hectic, with his youngest daughter going to camp, and a rich company trying to buy his practice, a near miss whilst driving reawakens his ability. The dog he almost runs over responds with some invective and pretty soon, every animal in San Francisco is chatting away to the poor Doctor. It`s made even worse when the animals learn of his profession and soon queue up at his house for consultations. Soon his colleagues begin to doubt his sanity, and the sale of the practice is in doubt.

Video

Dr Dolittle gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. The image is soft and there are flecks of dirt and dust throughout. The colour also seems faded somewhat. The film seems to be a direct transfer of the US video release. Henson`s creature workshop has created a marvellous menagerie for this film with some clever effects bringing the conversing animals to life. That said, it`s usually easy to see where the real animals end and the puppets begin. It`s easy to suspend your disbelief and enjoy this film though. In homage to the Rex Harrison film, you can catch a glimpse of a Push-me-pull-you.

Audio

Although the film gets a DD 5.1 English soundtrack, it is a fairly nondescript one, with no flashy use of surround to distinguish it from any other average DD track. The dialogue is always clear, and the music is suited to the genre, being light and frivolous.

Features

Trailer, subtitles. Did I mention it was free?

Conclusion

The first thing to say about this Doctor Dolittle disc is that it is aggressively family friendly. The language has been thoroughly sanitised for this release, with any mild profanity totally absent. It was only really noticeable on one occasion when some of the dubbing went awry. Strangely enough, I didn`t find this studio censorship as offensive as I usually do. Dr Dolittle is a film that is aimed squarely at a young audience. If you sit your children down in front of this film, you know that they will be entertained for 80 odd minutes. It`s strangely reassuring to know that expletives, no matter how mild are absent.

Eddie Murphy continues his resurgence after the Nutty Professor with another likeable comedy role, this time playing a Doctor with a skill for talking to animals. He is great with this kind of material as he comes to term with his ability and the wisecracking animals he encounters. But frankly the human cast come a poor second when compared to the animals, voiced by a varied cast. John Leguizamo plays a rude rat, Ellen DeGeneres is young John Dolittle`s pet dog, Garry Shandling and Julie Kavner play a couple of memorable pigeons, and Norm MacDonald is the dog, Lucky who reawakens Dolittle`s talent. The star of the movie has to be Chris Rock though, and his voicing of Rodney, the Guinea Pig is priceless. He gets the best lines and steals the picture.

This is a late nineties comedy, and that means an anal fixation. Despite the removal of offensive language, if you are offended by, butts, anuses, asses, fart gags and toilet humour in general, then I hesitantly suggest that this film may not be for you. Practically the first joke in the film is a butt joke and it goes on steadily from there, from rectum to rectum. But the writing is sharp and some of the observations witty. I loved the randy dog being taken to be neutered protesting his innocence and then being distracted by an attractive bitch.

Dr Dolittle is a predictable comedy, directed with workmanlike precision by Betty Thomas. The humour is similar to that of modern comedies and the human cast play along with gusto, but little to make them stand out. But I laughed through this film and found it comfortable familiar. When I played this disc, I knew what to expect, and I wasn`t disappointed. The animals are truly the stars of this film and some of the humour is excellent. This film is great for the kids, but there is just enough in it to keep the mums and dads smiling. As for the disc, it`s worth every penny I paid for it, and probably a little bit more. I wonder if it is the same as the retail version…