Dolittle. (PG.)
Directed by Stephen Gaghan.
Starring Robert Downey Jr, Harry Collett, Michael Sheen, Antonio Banderas and the voices of Rami Malek, Emma Thompson. 101 mins.
Though there have only been three big-screen versions of the Doctor who can walk and talk and sing with the animals, the range of interpretations have been wider than the fourteen actors that have played Doctor Who on the small screen. Rex Harrison's musical sixties Doctor was stiff, formal, not obviously fond of animals but was superficially faithful to Hugh Lofting's books. Eddie Murphy's nineties updated Dr was Dolittle in name and concept only. RDJ's surname version is, self-defeatingly, a little bit of both.
There is plenty of evidence that the film probably started out with its heart in the right place. It goes to the effort, and expense, of being set in the early 19th century, just like the books, but then completely undermines all that by having all the computer-animated animals talk in 21st-century vernacular. The film isn't horrible and has a few nice moments and performances (young Collett is bright as Stubbins) but it never really works and has been subject to so much re-editing and reshooting that it relies on its narrator (Thompson as the parrot Polynesia) to cover up all the cracks.
Directed by Stephen Gaghan.
Starring Robert Downey Jr, Harry Collett, Michael Sheen, Antonio Banderas and the voices of Rami Malek, Emma Thompson. 101 mins.
Though there have only been three big-screen versions of the Doctor who can walk and talk and sing with the animals, the range of interpretations have been wider than the fourteen actors that have played Doctor Who on the small screen. Rex Harrison's musical sixties Doctor was stiff, formal, not obviously fond of animals but was superficially faithful to Hugh Lofting's books. Eddie Murphy's nineties updated Dr was Dolittle in name and concept only. RDJ's surname version is, self-defeatingly, a little bit of both.
There is plenty of evidence that the film probably started out with its heart in the right place. It goes to the effort, and expense, of being set in the early 19th century, just like the books, but then completely undermines all that by having all the computer-animated animals talk in 21st-century vernacular. The film isn't horrible and has a few nice moments and performances (young Collett is bright as Stubbins) but it never really works and has been subject to so much re-editing and reshooting that it relies on its narrator (Thompson as the parrot Polynesia) to cover up all the cracks.
