Dolittle

So, Dolittle has taken a bit of a kicking. It's not doing so well at the box office and the majority of critics are mauling it like Downey Jr with a Welsh accent. Is it as bad as all that, though? Yes and no. While watching it, I found it mildly distracting and the kids seemed to be going along with it. It's pretty harmless with some nice CGI animals and quirky, often slapstick situations. That said, it doesn't do anything different to any other film of this ilk. The jokes don't land (the only time I giggled was when Ralph Fiennes - as a fearsome tiger called Barry - chased a patch of reflected light.) There are probably too many animals, a giraffe and fox turn up for no other reason than to (under)use Selena Gomez and Marion Cotillard. There's a squirrel, voiced so annoyingly by someone called Craig Robinson, that I wished Finchy from The Office had cut its throat as originally planned. This little shit gives an occasional spoken Capatin's Log, which serves no purpose, not even basic exposition. His sub-plot of revenge against Stubbins, the boy who accidentally shot him, disappears up its own fluffy tail.

The dialogue (mostly from the animals) is superfluous shite, that tries too hard to be 'with-it' and witty. Someone even utters one of my most hated cliches in film - "It's show time!" Unless their idea of a 'show' is sticking your arm up a dragon's arse, then fuck right off with your 'show time' bollocks. Dishonourable mention must also go to the duck, voiced by Octavia Spencer and the super-irritating dragonfly, voiced by apparent D-lister, Jason Mantzoukas. When a character is described as 'wise-cracking', it's basically all over. On the plus side, some of the voices match the characters well enough. Rami Malek, as the cowardly gorilla, Chee-Chee and Emma Thompson, as Dolittle's parrot off-sider and conscience, Poly, are both fine.

The story begins somewhat morosely for a kids film, in that it sets up Dolittle's retreat from public life as being a reaction to his wife's death at sea (a chance for resurrection, perhaps?). The whole film is really just a journey of getting back to the norm. Dolittle is sad, so he buggers off humans. A kid and a sense of duty (plus a huge slice of self-interest) motivate him to return to the world that needs him. Sure, Dolittle is quite the ego massage for Downey Jr, but I can't help wondering if all the bad press for this film is a bit of the old tall poppy syndrome. Sure he mangles the accent a bit but not as awful as some I've heard. It's more theatrical than abysmal and just not very natural. His overall performance is shuffling and mannered but not as over the top as it could have been in other hands (Jim Carrey or Johnny Depp, for example). The ham market here is cornered by Michael Sheen, playing a rival doctor by the name of Blair Mudfly. The name was surely a nod to Sheen having played Tony Blair three times on film. Jim Broadbent plays it by ear and Antonio Banderas seems like he's in another film, which actually adds something to this one. Incidentally, the Turner painting that slyly foreshadows the fate of the expedition is (probably) 'Fort Vimieux' from 1831. Always a plus to get a Turner in any film.

So, as far as Dolittle is aimed at kids, almost job done. For the rest of us compelled to watch it with said little folk, well, at least it wasn't a musical. Because, you know, if people ask me "Can you speak rhinoceros?" I'd say "Of courseros! Can't you?"

See also:

If you've got nothing better to do, you could watch the weird original, Doctor Dolittle (1967),  directed by Richard Fleischer, where Rex Harrison must find a rare giant pink sea snail. And you thought this new one had balderdash sewn up. Also, for no reason except that Michael Sheen is in it, Tom Hooper's The Damned United (2009).