Film Review: ‘Dolittle’: Doesn’t Just Dolittle, It Does Nothing

Mark Jackson
Updated:

Hugh Lofting’s stories of Doctor Dolittle have never done well in movie form; 1967’s musical version “Doctor Dolittle,” with Rex Harrison as the titular doc, flopped (although at 7 years old, I personally loved it). And the late ‘90s “Dr. Dolittle” that starred Eddie Murphy should never have existed.

But that doesn’t stop Hollywood from trying to bring the animal-language-speaking doc back again for a new generation, because kids love that concept: being able to converse with pets. This latest incarnation, though, starring Robert Downey Jr. is just off-the-charts terrible.

Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and Kevin (voiced by Craig Robinson) in “Dolittle.” (Universal Pictures)
Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and Kevin (voiced by Craig Robinson) in “Dolittle.” Universal Pictures

The Story, Such as It Is

In Victorian-era England, Dr. Dolittle loses his wife Lily in a sailing tragedy and exiles himself from public life behind the walls of his animal sanctuary-manor, and grows a giant, caveman beard.

Then, young Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett), a boy forced to go duck hunting by his trigger-happy dad, shoots by mistake an English red squirrel (voiced by Craig Robinson) that speaks 21st-century Ebonics. Stubbins delivers the wounded black, I mean red, squirrel to Dolittle’s compound for doctoring.

Stubbins arrives at the same time as Lady Rose (Carmel Laniado), who delivers news to the doctor that the ailing young Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley) has requested Dolittle’s presence at Buckingham Palace.

There’s political subterfuge afoot involving Dolittle’s former med-school classmate, Dr. Blair Müdfly (Michael Sheen). Is somebody perhaps slowly poisoning the queen? The highly unkempt, probably somewhat zoo-smelling, odd-accent-mumbling (Is it Welsh? Is it Scottish?) Dr. Dolittle needs much convincing to leave his sanctuary. But eventually he and Stubbins go on a quest to locate a secret cure from a lost island, to restore the queen to health.

Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and Jip (voiced by Tom Holland) in “Dolittle.” (Universal Pictures)
Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and Jip (voiced by Tom Holland) in “Dolittle.” Universal Pictures

However! They are thwarted. Because this treasure hunt has directions as to how to complete it, which are missing because one King Rassouli (a scary pirate king played by Antonio Banderas) is the sole possessor of them. And Rassouli likes Dr. Dolittle as much as Captain Hook likes Peter Pan. And time is running out.

Did I mention that the doc hits the high seas in a ship full of his CGI menagerie friends? Of course he does. There’s a lot of voice-acting star power here, but it matters little; apart from Emma Thompson as a macaw named Poly, there’s too much chaos to figure out who’s playing who, or to care.

Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and macaw (voiced by Emma Thompson) in “Dolittle.” (Universal Pictures)
Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and macaw (voiced by Emma Thompson) in “Dolittle.” Universal Pictures
In case you take your kids, and find that you do care about who’s playing who: In addition to Thompson, and Kevin the squirrel played by Robinson, there’s Plimpton the ostrich (Kumail Nanjiani), Yoshi the polar bear (John Cena), Chee-Chee the gorilla (Rami Malek), Dab-Dab the duck (Octavia Spencer), and Barry the tiger (Ralph Fiennes).
(L–R) Poly (voiced by Emma Thompson), Chee-Chee (voiced by Rami Malek), Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett), Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.), Dab-Dab (voiced by Octavia Spencer), and Plimpton (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani), in “Dolittle.” (Universal Pictures)
(L–R) Poly (voiced by Emma Thompson), Chee-Chee (voiced by Rami Malek), Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett), Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.), Dab-Dab (voiced by Octavia Spencer), and Plimpton (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani), in “Dolittle.” Universal Pictures

A Bad Case of Too Many Cooks

I’ll spare you the history of pre-production dosey-doeing and script enhancement and a million meetings and switcherooskis, all in the name of the bottom line, because this is Hollywood after all. But this “Dolittle” ends up being the Disney of the 1970s, known for cutesy, treacly mismatched kitsch, high sugar content, and low sustenance value. For example: Why is a menagerie of bad CGI animals, supposedly from the late 1800s, sounding like a bunch of millennials?
Basically, you’ve got highly frenetic, barely intelligible scenes with way too much synthetic visual fakery—and a paper-thin storyline. Is it only for kids? Yes. Is it even for kids? Not all kids. Just kindergartners. Is that necessarily a bad thing—shouldn’t kids have their own movies sometimes? Yes. But intentionally. Not unintentionally.
‘Dolittle’ Director: Stephen Gaghan Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Emma Thompson, Antonio Banderas, John Cena, Michael Sheen, Kumail Nanjiani, Ralph Fiennes, Octavia Spencer, Rami Malek, Craig Robinson, Carmel Laniado, Jessie Buckley, Harry Collett Rating: PG Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes Release Date: Jan. 17, 2020 Rated: 1 star out of 5
Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson
Film Critic
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for The Epoch Times. In addition to the world’s number-one storytelling vehicle—film, he enjoys martial arts, weightlifting, motorcycles, vision questing, rock-climbing, qigong, oil painting, and human rights activism. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by a classical theater training, and has 20 years’ experience as a New York professional actor, working in theater, commercials, and television daytime dramas. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook “How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World,” which is available on iTunes and Audible. Jackson is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
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