Dolittle ensures there is plenty of animal humor to entertain the younger audience, but loses focus on everything else.
“Robert Downey Jr. electrifies as the man who could talk to animals: Dolittle. After losing his wife, he hermits himself away behind the high wall of his manor, but is forced to set sail on an epic adventure when the queen falls gravely ill. Helping Dolittle in search of a rare cure are his rambunctious animal friends – including Chee-Chee (Oscar winner Rami Malek), an anxious, self-conscious gorilla; Dab-Dab (Oscar winner Octavia Spencer), an enthusiastic but birdbrained duck; the bickering duo of cynical, neurotic ostrich Plimpton (Kumail Nanjiani) and chilly-but-chill polar bear Yoshi (John Cena); as well as a headstrong parrot named Polynesia (Oscar winner Emma Thompson).”
Dolittle opens with an animated preface to the film, introducing Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and his origins, documenting the adventures of himself and the love of his life, Lilly, who together saved countless animals and started an animal hospital and sanctuary where all sorts of creatures could find care and safety in the confines of its gates, until one day, Lilly went on adventure overseas in search of a mythical lifegiving tree, and was lost at sea. Heartbroken, Dolittle isolated himself from the rest of the world, never talking to anyone but his animal companions, that is, until a compassionate boy named Tommy (Harry Collett) brings him an injured squirrel to mend. At the same time, Lady Rose (Carmel Laniado), from Buckingham Palace, also calls on Dr. Dolittle to help the Queen who has become gravely ill. Reluctant to come out of seclusion, the coaxing of his animal companions and reminder that the deed on his land is only good for the Queen’s lifetime compels Dolittle to do what he can to help. Upon visiting the Queen, Dolittle proclaims that only the fruit of the mysterious healing tree can save her, and thus embarks on an overseas journey to save her.
Robert Downey Jr. probably had his pick of the project he wanted to follow up his iconic role of Iron Man with. Dolittle may not have been what I would have predicted he would have chosen, but the eccentric man of medicine that talks to animals isn’t that much of a stretch from his eccentric billionaire persona, both a bit socially awkward, intelligent, and a bit of a loner.
With the advancement in technology and CG with talking animals, it was only a matter of time before the character of Dr. Dolittle was explored again. The CG in the film is done extremely well, and is to the point where most everything, despite a few instances, looks absolutely real. This gives an extra added bit of enjoyment, especially for children, seeing the interactions with all kinds of different animals doing things that no trained flesh and blood creature could do. The humor is definitely geared toward children, has a few funny moments, but relies heavily on the animal dynamic which unfortunately can’t carry the entire film. The cast is exceptional, with a lot of talent voicing the animals, but by far my favorite is Michael Sheen as the antagonist. He’s hilarious, a lot funnier than any of the animals, in my opinion.
My biggest issue with the film is the clear lack of character development. The majority of what we see for Dolittle is compressed into only minutes at the beginning of the film during the opening. His loss of his wife being a major factor in his current state, we really don’t see much resolution with it, despite the fact that he is searching for the exact same thing she was when she was lost at sea. Instead of dealing with that head on, he’s given a young boy, much like himself, with a compassion for animals, who tries to remind him of the person he once was. With such a simple setup it’s surprising of how badly they dropped the ball with this relationship. I felt no growth between the two, and a lot of missed opportunities for heartfelt moments for displaying theme typical with a children’s film. The entire relationship falls flat, and I felt that the boy developed more of a relationship with the parrot than anyone or anything else in the film. Poly the parrot, voiced by Emma Thompson, was really the only well-developed animal in the film. The rest of them had weird quirks to them, but none of the dialogue or actions seemed organic. It has a great cast of voices, but none of them seem connected.
The overall story also lacked clear focus. With a weak call to adventure, it’s immediately determined that the only cure for a poison is a mythical fruit that is supposed to grant eternal life? The leap that is made from diagnosing the illness to the solution of having to set sail to find something that may or may not exist is way too much to accept. For a child, perhaps not, but it’s set up in such an odd way where the focus is on trying to make the animals funny with no consideration for character, story, and resolution, and whoever thought up that ending needs to seriously reconsider their career choices.
Video
Dolittle is presented in 2160p 4k Ultra High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1 featuring Dolby Vision and HDR10+. This is a very colorful film, taking full advantage of Dolby Vision’s superb color balance in which the colors are so vibrant and rich you won’t want to see it any other way. The film is clear and free of any defects, with impressive CG, which I’ve already discussed. Despite the film’s downfalls, it really is a beautiful looking film, best watched on this 4k transfer.
Audio
The audio is presented in Dolby Atmos and like the video transfer is perhaps the best thing about this set. There is no lack of opportunities for this track to demonstrate just how impressive it can be, with various animal sounds and naval battle sequences to show off those atmos speakers overhead. Audio balance is done extremely well, with clear and concise sound coming in the form of a dialogue from the center channel mixed with the chaos that is usually happening around.
Special Features
The extras are located on both the 4k and Blu-Ray disc, albeit short, contain some informative and interesting looks behind the scenes of the film. These include:
- Talk to the Animals
- Becoming the Good Doctor
- RDJ & Harry: Mentor and Mentee
- Antonio Banderas: Pirate King
- The Wicked Dr. Müdfly
- A Most Unusual House
Dolittle had a lot of potential but fails to materialize in more ways than one. Fitting for a children’s movie, it unfortunately doesn’t become anything more than that, and is destined to be forgotten in years to come, cementing that cast doesn’t make a film, it’s story and character.