Movie Reviews: Dr. Dolittle 2
   
 



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Studio: 20th Century Fox (1 hr. 21 min.)
 
Plot:
     Dolittle versus Darwin in the ultimate man versus nature showdown, in the midst of the animal kingdom's first labor strike.
Cast:
     Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wilson, Raven Symone, Kevin Pollak, Kyla Pratt, Lil' Zane
Rating:
     PG
Bottom Line:
     **1/2

Coverage:

Dr. Dolittle 2. did manage to wrangle a few chuckles out of me.

Alright, I’ll admit it! I laughed out loud several times.

OK?

So what if I found Dolittle 2 to be actually funny. After all, who would have thought that during a summer laden with sequels, remakes and motion pictures with a Roman numeral behind their titles, that one of those movies would actually be any good?

Of course I realize the North American Brotherhood of Film Critics Local #12, will probably revoke my membership card in lieu of this confession. But to heck with them.

In fact, here’s an added bonus. Even though Dr. Dolittle is a terrific kid’s movie, it doesn’t insult adults (too much) or kids for that matter.

Everybody’s buddy, Eddie Murphy, reprises his role of Dr. John Dolittle, a modern day Noah who can talk to the animals. However, like most overworked professionals, Dolittle has trouble communicating with his family — especially his brooding adolescent daughter (Raven Symone).

In an attempt bond with his wife and two daughters, Dolittle plans to take the family on a European vacation. However, the trip is canceled when the animals in a nearby forest ask Dolittle to protect them from unscrupulous loggers planning to harvest the entire woodlands.

Dolittle discovers the only way that he can legally stop the loggers, is to reintroduce an endangered Pacific Western male bear to the forest, and have him successfully procreate with the remaining female Pacific Western bear, Ava (voice of Lisa Kudrow).

The problem? The only requisite bear Dolittle can find is a performing carnival bear named Archie (voice of Steve Zahn) who’d rather sing Barry Manilow’s Copacabana than forage for food.

In addition, Ava, sees Dr. Dolittle as a bear "pimp," and Archie as a wise-cracking fast food-loving city slicker who can’t feed and protect her in the wild. So Dolittle has his work cut out for him playing Cupid while at the same time trying to toughen Archie up so he can find his inner-bear.

Initially Archie resists the idea, but Dolittle convinces him there's love to be found in his natural habitat.

Admittedly, Dr. Dolittle 2 is a light and fluffy romantic feel good movie where nobody gets hurt. But it does have a downside. Murphy can’t seem to stand prosperity, so in a restaurant scene, he digresses to his tried bathroom humor shtick. Enough, already.

Murphy should have trusted the real star of the movie, state-of-the-art computer generated effects that give each of the animals a unique personality. The editing and cinematography are incredible, but not intrusive. It’s reported that Murphy shot most of his scenes alone, and the bear was added in later. The two performances are seemless.

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