Dr. Dolittle Reviews

An A-list animal voice cast is the most outstanding feature of this nonmusical remake of the turgid 1967 picture about a lovable eccentric who can communicate with animals. With two other physicians, old-fashioned Dr. Reiss (Richard Schiff) and money-grubbing Dr. Weller (Oliver Platt), go-getter Dr. John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) runs a successful San Francisco practice treating human patients. He's entirely forgotten that as a child he talked to animals and they talked back; in fact, he doesn't seem to like animals much at all, and he's not very nice to his wife (Kristen Wilson) and children (Kyla Pratt, Raven-Symone), either. Dolittle's yuppie life is thrown into chaos after he nearly runs down a mutt on a dark street: The dog, a cheeky pup named Lucky (voice of Norm Macdonald), talks to him... berates him, in fact, and soon Dolittle is hearing animal voices everywhere: squabbling pigeons and rats (Julie Kavner and Garry Shandling, Reni Santoni and John Leguizamo), a wounded owl (Jenna Elfman), a snack-happy racoon (Paul Reubens), a sassy guinea pig named Rodney (Chris Rock), a suicidal circus tiger (Albert Brooks), a manic terrier (Gilbert Gottfried), and more. The babbling beasts won't stop, and everyone thinks Dolittle has lost his mind. The nominal story, involving a rapacious HMO's offer to buy Dolittle's practice and his covert quest to help the depressed tiger, proceeds in fits and starts but still beats the hell out of the original film's bogus search for the giant sea snail. Small children should be delighted by the menagerie of chatty critters, but their parents may be less than thrilled by what the animals have to say: No matter where the gags start, they have a conspicuous tendency to circle back to the subject of butts.