Thanks for the memories!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Captivating movie !

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Eddie Murphy is a classic and this movie is just so him: he is fast talking animals and other people trying to convince them that he is not mad even though he is talking to animals. He looks a little more mature and less deceitful in this movie than in others such as A Distinguished Gentlemen and Beverly Hills Cop. Though he is a fast talking genius, he is quite respectable in this movie.Basically this movie is about a man who can speak to animals. The plot is thin but the comedy is what makes this movie. It is full of sexual innuendos and simply cute animals that love to talk back to him, especially the rats. There are is lot of dirty, toilet humour, jokes which are suitable for kids for this movie is marketed as a kids movie. Dr Dolittle comes from children's' books I read when I was young and thus it is a kids movie, but the existence of Eddie Murphy makes it very much an adults movie as well. Eddie Murphy has his legions of fans and I he definitely does not disappoint in this movie.Though this is a great movie, there is little depth to it. This does not mean that it is flawed in that way for not all movies need depth. This is not a feel good movie, nor is it satirical, it is simply an Eddie Murphy comic routine. One thing I wondered though is if the Pushme-Pullyou would be in the movie (for those who do not know, the Pushme-Pullyou if a two headed Llama with its second head where its butt should be). It makes a cameo appearance walking behind Dr Dolittle and you see its reflection in the mirror. It is not a major part of the movie, and I don't think it is meant to be. All I can remember of the old books is that Dolittle had a legion of animal followers, and he wasn't Negro. That is not important, but I doubt the movie would have been any good if any other actor had played the part of Dr Dolittle.

Too bad neither the animals or Eddie Murphy had anything to say worth saying. this movie is just bland.Children's movie? Well, if you're trying to get them to take a nap, then maybe. It's just 90 minutes of some eye-wrenchingly poor animal lip animation to quips that aren't funny. And the lip-sync'ing makes the old Godzilla films look brilliantly done by comparison. Meanwhile, Eddie "Pluto Nash" Murphy drones on with a suppressed understated delivery that is painful to experience. Apparently, he's trying to modify his old manic persona, but to what? In short, all the magic and wonder of the 1967 original version is lost in this re-imagining, or whatever it is. A town wants to bully some forest creatures and blame them for doing bad stuff. No, really. And Pluto Nash can psycho-babble with them. Things chain along with some stale jokes to a dull uninspired conclusion with no surprises.Rent the '67 movie. Or some old Yogi Bear cartoons.

The only thing that would make this movie a bit better would be if they would come out with an anniversary edition with ALL the scenes put back in. The release of this has cut out several songs and scenes which creates gaps in the story line. For those of us who grew up loving this movie, it is sad to see them cut it up. The original soundtrack keeps all the songs, "Something In Your Smile" which is when he realizes he loves Emma Fairfax, instead he awakens the next morning on the beach and off he goes. Terrible they cut it. Wish they would put out the anniversary edition UNCUT and with Deleted Scenes back in. Other than that, a timeless classic which does not get enough credit, specifically after Eddie Murphy ruined the overall charm of it.

This version of "Doctor Dolittle" came into stores back when I was twelve years old, which was when I first saw it. I think I liked it a lot at the time, and watched it again a few months later. After many years, I just decided to check it out again. Since I'm obviously not as easily amused as I was when I was twelve, and was aware that it generally wasn't considered that great, I didn't have very high expectations. Afterwards, however, I certainly can't say that I think it's as bad as some do.During his childhood, John Dolittle talks to animals. It seems that he can understand them, and they can understand him, but when his dad sees this, he thinks it's ridiculous. After John's dog is taken away, he is obviously not happy, and stops talking to animals for a long time. When he grows up, he becomes a physician, and has a wife and two daughters. It seems that Dr. Dolittle's communication with animals is long gone, but one night, after he nearly runs over a dog on the road, he hears it say something! Now, his childhood ability has come back, and soon, he finds many different types of creatures following him around! How will people be able to believe that he actually has this remarkable gift, and that it's not just a mental illness, as one would probably assume?! As you would probably expect, this movie has its fair share of lame jokes (such as a rat farting), and like you've probably already heard, the movie would overall appeal more to kids than anyone else. However, certainly not all of the gags are lame. During my most recent viewing, I wouldn't have been surprised if I had kept a straight face through the entire thing, but that's not what happened. I found no huge laughs in the film, but there were several times when I smiled and snickered. I also found that the story gets suspenseful to some degree towards the end. Eddie Murphy's performance is also a highlight. Some of the voice-overs for the animals are silly, maybe the majority of them, but this isn't much of a problem.For kids, this movie could be very funny, though it is somewhat crude at times, remember the PG-13 rating. So, I don't know how appropriate for kids it is (that's for parents to decide). For adults, and probably adolescents, this version of "Doctor Dolittle" is certainly nothing special. It could be mildly amusing, if you don't mind extreme silliness and crude toilet humour, but there's probably also a fair chance that you would find it absolutely revolting (I think some clearly have). Without a doubt, this movie is pretty cheesy, and skipping it wouldn't be a great loss for most people, but it's certainly not one that I advise everyone to avoid at all costs (though that would probably be a good idea for some people).