I haven’t had the opportunity to view many new movies lately while my state has been on lockdown. Theaters remain closed and even deliveries take quite some time to arrive due to increased orders of essential items from websites such as Amazon. I finally got a chance to check out the latest remake of “Dolittle” and I was very excited to see something new.
The film opens up with an animated sequence which sets up the rest of the film showing Doctor John Dolittle and his wife Lily before she passes away while at sea. Following Lily’s death, Doctor Dolittle has become a recluse and only communicates with the animals he lives with. Dr. Dolittle is forced to set off on an adventure to save the life of the Queen, much to his dismay. While on the adventure, Dolittle ends up taking on an apprentice named Tommy, a young boy with a love for all animals as well.
I went into this film a bit blind as far as the overall tone of the movie. I enjoyed the Eddie Murphy films but I had never read the source material and I have never seen the original musical adaptation so I was curious how this film would be. I was pleasantly surprised by how family friendly the movie ended up being. I figured it wouldn’t be too adult in nature, but you never know these days.
Much like the original books written by Hugh Lofting, this film is set in Victorian England unlike the contemporary setting of the Eddie Murphy adaptation. This time frame helped set it apart from the most recent adaptations while also providing a fresh visual palette that the modern setting couldn’t take advantage of. All of the colorful sets and costumes featured really help you feel engrossed in the setting.
Now, there are some faults I found in the film which I will now dive into now. The most distracting aspect of the film for me is how the film uses voices overs to cover exposition and actions not shown on screen, it doesn’t happen often, but it can be a little jarring (it was to me at least). It almost felt like the filmmakers forgot to film some scenes and just figured a quick ADR session would be a better (and cheaper) solution to reshoots (which to be fair, it is). Also, there are some beautifully shot scenes in the film and the cinematography is often very good overall, but there are parts with extreme zooms that I found a out of place with the rest of the film.
The animals and the overall computer animation is very good. The voice cast including the likes of John Cena and Tom Holland also did a stellar job making the animals feel real. So many different personalities are displayed with the animals and they often feel the most realistic elements of each scene.
As far as the human cast of characters goes, they are led by the great Robert Downey Jr. and he seems to be having a blast. Now this admittedly seems like an odd role for Downey to take post Iron Man, but I think he just wanted to make a different type of movie. I really enjoyed Robert Downey Jr. in the movie and it was a delight to see him go over the top in the role. Downey Jr. sets himself apart from Eddie Murphy and Rex Harrison with this adaptation and showcases why he gets paid the big bucks. I should also point out that despite little screen time, Antonio Banderas absolutely steals his scenes and he managed to make me wonder why he was never cast in a “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.
In a world consumed by the Coronavirus epidemic, it’s refreshing to see a film like this and know that the author who wrote this came up with the characters during another dark time in the world, World War I. Even during dark times, light always shines through. While “Dolittle” isn’t a perfect film, it was still cute and better than I expected with some wonderful performances.
Grade: B
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