Starring: Voice of Eddie Murphy
Director: Steve Carr
Rated: PG
IN 1995 Australian animators working on Babe, led the world in developing animatics, the ability seamlessly to enable the audience to think an animal could talk.
Where Babe led, Hollywood soon followed with an incarnation of the character created by Hugh Lofting, Dr Dolittle. The first film was produced in 1998. Sadly for us it made so much money that Dr Dolittle 2 is now on national release.
In this film, scriptwriter Larry Levin pits the animal conversationalist against an environmental vandal. Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) is led by Joey the Raccoon (Michael Rappaport) to see God Beaver (Richard Sarafian) who points out the damage forest logging has done to their home.
The only way to stop the destruction of the forest is for Lisa Dolittle (Kirsten Wilson) to argue in court that the forest is the natural habitat for the endangered bears. Dr Dolittle is given 30 days to convince Archie bear (Steve Zahn) and Ava bear (Lisa Kudrow) to have a baby bear and so save their environment.
What was wonderful technology in Babe and engaging in the first Dr Dolittle is pedestrian here. Eddie Murphy is fine and some of the animal voice-overs are good, but Dr Dolittle 2 is, at best, mildly amusing.
The script lacks any original humour. In fact I am beginning to wonder when US comedies will stop trying to get laughs from bowel movements and urination.
The picture and sound editing is abrupt and disjointed. The studio set of the forest looks amateurish and all this adds up to make Dr Dolittle 2 feel and look like a quick grab for more money.
On a more serious level Archie has to find his “inner bear” to become attractive to Ava. This happens only after he becomes violent toward Dr Dolittle and reclaims his “real masculine nature”. For all of the implied laughs in this scenario, I had hoped we had moved beyond power and violence as definitions of what it is to be an adult male.
