Dolittle (Review)
Dolittle Feels Like it Was Written by Animals.
January is a month that rarely sees the release of a decent movie. That’s why I was horrified when I saw the release date at the end of the Dolittle trailer. All those incredible names popping up followed by January 17th lead to me hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. Most of the advertising since then has been firmly focused on the cast attached to the film with many posters featuring the animals with their voice actors proudly placed overhead. While Dolittle has an insane amount of talent involved in the reimagining of this classic literary character and his adventures, it proves to be squandered. It’s a film that more interested in the spectacle and the gimmicks rather than storytelling. It certainly has moments of wonder, but I found myself more in awe of how underwhelming it was.
Dolittle is a retelling of the famous literary tale of a doctor who can talk to animals. This time around, Robert Downey Jr. plays the lead as he shuts himself away after the death of his late wife. A man of his skills isn’t allowed to sulk for long as his services are called upon to save a dying queen. Using his unique talents and assistants (all of whom are animals), he determines that the Queen has been poisoned and the only hope is the fruit of a mythical tree that’s never been found before. With time and conspirators, working against him the doctor sets out to save the Queen and his home with the help of his animal friends.
One thing to note about Dolittle is that it boasts a very impressive group of actors lending their voices to the animals in the film. Rami Malek plays a cowardly gorilla. John Cena is an excitable polar bear. Kumail Nanjiani is an antisocial ostrich. Octavia Spencer is a loud-mouthed duck. The list keeps going and going. Most notable of them all is Emma Thompson as Polly, the Doctor’s parrot who is pretty much running the show. All these incredible names come together to lend their voices to these animals but by the end of the film, it’s clear that they don’t have anything to say. Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few good one-liners in there. That’s because the film throws so many out there that it would be damn near impossible for some of them not to work. The percentage as a whole is pretty low. Worse than that, the animals don’t have much heart to them. Their personalities are literally based on single adjectives. Because there are so many in Dolittle the film never got a chance to give any of them the attention they needed to flourish.
I like Robert Downey Jr and I know that millions of fans out there would demand my head on a platter if I dared to speak ill of Iron Man. However, I think we can all agree after his portrayal of the most famous detective in movie history, Sherlock Holmes, and now Dr. Dolittle, the man cannot do accents. I think he was trying to do an Irish one this time around, but it’s almost impossible to place it because it’s so inconsistent. Then again, most things in Dolittle are. Like it’s star, the film is filled with chaotic energy that seems unfocused and easily distractable. There’s a charm to it. The same as there’s a charm to herding kittens. That charm starts to wear thin and turns to frustration after the first hour or so. In that regard, I’m sure it will be a fine film for children who like bright lights and the idea of talking animals. For anyone else, Dolittle will seem like a mess that struggles to find the tone that it’s searching for and, just like RDJ’s accent, it becomes muddled.
In a lot of ways, Dolittle is a fantastic adventure. How could it not be with a man and his menagerie setting out to find a magical fruit to save a dying queen? It’s something straight out of a fairytale. Because of that, the suspension of disbelief is a given from the get-go. That doesn’t mean a suspension in the rules of storytelling. Dolittle is a film obsessed with fitting as many little details and gags in as it can. So much so that a lot of the better ideas feel wasted. More than that, it’s so focused on the trees that it forgets about the forest. A hero is only ever as good as his villains, and Michael Sheen’s villainous Dr. Blair Müdfly is about as menacing as a pussy cat (though I can think of some terrifying Cats out there). The same could be said for Antonio Banderas evil King Rassouli who wants the Doctor dead. Weak villains are one thing, but Dolittle lacks heart as a whole. There’s no grand lesson learned. All of the moments that have the potential to show emotional growth in the characters are graced over in favor of, quite literally, fart jokes. I get that this is a movie for kids, but I think even kids deserve a bit more.
Dolittle is far from unwatchable. There were a number of times where I laughed at some of the jokes with the rest of the audience. I was rather impressed with some of the CGI animals at times as well. When it comes to leading men, no one commits more to absurdity more than Robert Downy Jr. and he manages to tap dance around the screen even in spite of the weight of Dolittle resting on his shoulders. It’s just that the choreography he has to work with is rather unimpressive. In fact, that’s probably the best way to describe this film as a whole. Not terrible, just unimpressive. That wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that 175 million dollars went into it. No, I suppose that unimpressive doesn’t do it justice. Dolittle is a glorious trainwreck that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from out of morbid curiosity. Kids will probably love it though.
