DOLITTLE (2020) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

DOLITTLE (2020) movie

Genre              |   Fantasy Adventure

Classification   |   PG

Running time   |   106 minutes

Released         |   16 January 2020

cast

Robert Downey Jr. ... Dr. John Dolittle
Tom Holland ... Jip (voice)
Emma Thompson ... Polynesia (voice)
Ralph Fiennes ... Barry (voice)
Rami Malek ... Chee-Chee (voice)
Jessie Buckley ... Queen Victoria
Kumail Nanjiani ... Plimpton (voice)
Marion Cotillard ... Tutu (voice)
Michael Sheen ... Mudfly
John Cena ... Yoshi (voice)
Antonio Banderas ... Rassouli
Selena Gomez ... Betsy (voice)
​Octavia Spencer ... Dab-Dab (voice)

director

Stephen Gaghan

writer

​Stephen Gaghan ... (screenplay)
Dan Gregor ... (screenplay)
Hugh Lofting ... (character created by)
Doug Mand ... (screenplay)
Thomas Shepherd ... (screen story)

cinematographer

​​Guillermo Navarro ​

music

​Danny Elfman

film editor

​Craig Alpert

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box office result

Worldwide               $100 million

Australia                 $? million

North America        $? million

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movie minutiae

The film was originally going to be released on May 24, 2019 by Universal Pictures, but was moved to April 12, 2019 to avoid competition with STAR  WARS EPISODE IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (2019). It was later pushed back again to January 17, 2020. This concerned many because January is when studios have historically released films they feel will fail. The report that the film went through almost a month of reshoots and rewrites supported this concern.

​In April 2019, it was reported the film had undergone 21 days of reshoots following poor test screenings. Director Jonathan Liebesman helped to oversee the filming alongside writer Stephen Gaghan while Chris McKay helped write new material, after it became clear from first cuts that the comedy and computer-generated elements of the film were not coming together as well as the producers had hoped.

Originally Randy Newman was the first choice to score the film, seeing how his uncle Lionel Newman had involvement with the original DOCTOR DOLITTLE (1967) film.

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DOLITTLE (2020) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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Posters

DOLITTLE (2020) STORY SYNOPSIS

After losing his wife seven years earlier, the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle (Downey), famed doctor and veterinarian of Queen Victoria’s England, hermits himself away behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor with only his menagerie of exotic animals for company.

But when the young queen (Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose) falls gravely ill, a reluctant Dolittle is forced to set sail on an epic adventure to a mythical island in search of a cure, regaining his wit and courage as he crosses old adversaries and discovers wondrous creatures.

DOLITTLE (2020) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 16 January 2020

Pop ​Movee Rating

Robert Downey Jr. is a wonderful actor and only someone of his skill could convince audiences that he’s really interacting with bears, ducks, parrots and whales; to name but a few of the myriad of semi-anthropomorphised creatures served up in DOLITTLE, the latest adaptation of Hugh Lofting’s classic children’s fantasy adventure stories.

While Downey Jr. is the human centre of attention in Stephen Gaghan’s feature adaptation about a man who can “Talk to the Animals”, DOLITTLE turns out to be better-than-expected thanks to the computer-animated animal characters. Coupled with the vocal talents of Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, Tom Holland, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani and Ralph Fiennes, the film’s extensive roll call of visual effects artists deliver some beautifully-rendered, photo realistic effects that go a long way to helping the viewer suspend their disbelief for the 101 minute running time.

The 2020 version of “Doctor Dolittle”, with no less than four credited writers, takes characters and story elements from the original Lofting stories and fuses them with a series of set-piece action sequences aimed to maximise audience excitement levels. 

There are obvious “franchise” aspirations attached to this film...

In a bid to maximise its success, the film’s release was initially delayed, with reports that a number of comedy sequences featuring interaction between the human and animal characters had fallen flat with test audiences. Three weeks of additional shooting was undertaken in April 2019, with new scenes written to help beef up the comedy courtesy of ROBOT CHICKEN alumni Chris McKay.

DOLITTLE is not an out-and-out comedy, but there are some cute, humorous moments that lighten Downey Jr.’s Dolittle; who, at the start of the film, has disappeared behind the walls of his estate and hasn’t been seen for seven years following the death of his wife, Lily.

That being said, the writers also demonstrate a curious fascination with bodily functions. More than once, the comedy reverts to the venerable “fart gag” in order to draw a laugh. It will work on the kids, but older viewers will more-than-likely roll their eyes at the toilet humour.

As far as the story goes, Lady Rose (Carmel Laniado) has travelled from Buckingham Palace to convince Dolittle that he must urgently attend to Queen Victoria, who has become stricken by a poison that can only be cured by a very specific remedy from a very specific location. 

Upon her arrival at Dolittle’s, Lady Rose discovers Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett) ensnared in one of the estate’s traps, designed to prevent humans from getting too close to the good Doctor, while trying to get help for a squirrel named Kevin (voiced by Craig Robinson).

DOLITTLE takes a little while to get going…

The First Act has a lot of exposition and appears to have been most affected by the additional material that was added. There’s a feeling that there’s an awful lot going on, but not really much happening as the filmmakers give their audience an overload of information about Dolittle’s past, his present state-of-mind, a plot against Queen Victoria and a subtle political statement about the ongoing English fascination with game hunting.

Once Dolittle emerges from his “funk”, the story picks up pace and starts to take shape as the Fantasy Adventure the film’s trailers have been pitching to audiences.

The film’s first major set-piece, Tom’s desperate bid to join Dolittle on his adventure across the ocean, doesn’t work quite as well as it should, but, once the spinnaker is deployed DOLITTLE becomes a little more like a PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie; which is not a bad thing!

Devotees of the Lofting books may take issue with this version of Dolittle, but the more dynamic pace of an action, adventure tale suits the Dolittle character and prevents the film from becoming bogged down in attempts to keep the audience convinced that Dolittle is capable of talking to every kind of animal on the planet!

The story does suffer at various stages throughout, as there are no less than three “villains” occupying the story...

Michael Sheen, Jim Boradbent and Antonio Banderas are, respectively, Dolittle’s long-time adversary Dr. Blair Mudfly, aspirant to the English throne Lord Thomas Badgley and King Rassouli, the Doctor’s father-in-law.

Of the three, Michael Sheen’s Mudlfy proves to be the best.

Director Gaghan, along with the film’s Editor, Craig Alpert, whose recent credits include DEADPOOL 2 (2018), weave Mudfly’s character in and out of the action as much as they can, elevating the character to the level of “Chief Antagonist” and who, deservedly, gets his comeuppance once the film enters the home stretch.

DOLITTLE’s finale is what could be described as a “double banger”, with the Doctor and his companions dealing with the dangers of their fetch quest and, then, a resolution to the mystery ailment afflicting Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, the film’s Official Trailer actually spoils one of the story’s surprises. The introduction of a particular type of creature broadens the scope of the film (with those franchise aspirations very much on display) and moves DOLITTLE well and truly into the extreme end of the Fantasy genre.

Besides the choppy first 30 minutes, the other big problem with DOLITTLE is the dubbing of Robert Downey Jr.’s lines. It’s an acknowledged reality of visual effects heavy films that a lot of the actor’s performance has to be either a) constructed or b) fixed in the post-production phase of the film. This appears (and sounds) to be the case with this film.

Yes, Downey Jr. is a wonderful actor, but he’s not a magician and, unfortunately, his character’s accent is “off” and his lines sound like they’ve been delivered in a sound-proof recording booth. It’s not a reason to avoid seeing DOLITTLE on the big screen, but keen-eared cinemagoers will know that something is not quite right with RDJ’s accent for the character.

To say DOLITTLE could have been much worse is an understatement. It ends up being a relatively effective film and saves its best for its second half. It’s not an entirely faithful adaptation of Lofting’s work, but to have been so would have prevented this new film from introducing the additional story elements designed to enhance audience enjoyment of the film. 

DOLITTLE is solid Fantasy Adventure entertainment.

DOLITTLE MOVIE (2020) USEFUL LINKS

Dolittle (film) - Wikipedia
​Dolittle (2020) - IMDb​
​Dolittle (2020) - Rotten Tomatoes

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