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Dr. Dolittle 2
(Reviewed June 19, 2001, by James Dawson)
-
This condescendingly stupid movie is every bit as unfunny and embarrassingly "buppie" as any of those dreadful WB and UPN "comedies" you never would be caught dead watching. Eddie Murphy is loud and annoying and neutered, his wife is a "Cosby"-show-type asexual scold, one of his daughters is an unpleasant would-be homegirl with a repulsive permanent sneer, her scarf-headed boyfriend is a drawlingly off-putting would-be gangsta...and not a damned one of them is amusing in the least. They live in one of those "what planet is this?" realities where Murphy can abruptly decide that the whole family is going on a European vacation the very next day, and where his daughter would think that being able to talk to animals is a bad thing because it makes dad a freak, and where Murphy (who is a DOCTOR, remember?) would not think to prove the crucial fact that a bear has been illegally drugged BY SIMPLY ORDERING A BLOOD TEST.
In what passes for the plot, animals enlist Murphy to save a forest from loggers. Eventually, the animals decide that the best way to achieve this end is by calling a general "strike" among all of their fellow creatures: cows somehow begin refusing to give milk (gosh, I never knew producing milk was a voluntary biological process..), thoroughbreds refuse to race, Sea World whales refuse to jump through hoops. One would think the animals might want to strike over something more important...such as, oh, GETTING SLAUGHTERED AND EATEN BY THE MILLIONS EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR. Christ, this movie is dumb.
The movie's only redeeming feature: Rhythm & Hues, the special-effects folks that did the pioneering talking-animal effects in "Babe," once again prove they are sheer geniuses at that kind of thing, giving realistic "mouth motions" to creatures here ranging from bears to weasels to raccoons. Their work is absolutely amazing.
Too bad the animals (and the people) didn't have better lines to say.
Back Row Grade: F
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