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Dr. Dolittle 2
Review by Mike Furches (Mike's bio)
Dr. Dolittle: Eddie Murphy
Joseph Potter: Jeffrey Jones
Jack Riley: Kevin Pollak
Maya Dolittle: Kyla Pratt
And the voices of Norm Macdonald, Lisa Kudrow, Steve Zahn and Molly Shannon.
20th Century Fox presents a film directed by Steve Carr. Written by Larry Levin. Based on the Dr. Dolittle stories by Hugh Lofting. Running time: 88 minutes.
Rated PG (for language and crude humor).
Dr. Dolittle 2 is a movie that I was looking forward to seeing this summer. I actually think that Eddie Murphy is an underrated actor and Dr. Dolittle was one of my favorite characters as a child. While the first Dr. Dolittle movie with Eddie Murphy was not nearly as good as the original film it still had some good laughs and was an enjoyable film. The trailers for the new movie looked fun and I was especially interested in seeing Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, in the film. If you are not familiar with Steve Irwin he is a modern day contemporary of Jim Fowler from the old Mutual of Omaha television series and has been called a "real Dr. Dolittle." Irwin hosts a top rated television series. He is a family favorite and one of the reasons my family was excited about seeing this movie. You don't wait long to see the sequence with Steve Irwin and unfortunately if you have seen the previews of the movie you have seen the total footage used in the film. This is one of many let downs in this film that comes early and often.
Recently, Eddie Murphy stated that he was wanting to make movies that he would be proud of his children seeing. He rated The Klumps among these films and while The Klumps had some success at the box office I would consider it a terrible movie. While Dr. Dolittle 2 is not nearly as embarrassing as The Klumps it is still an embarrassingly bad film.
The film, rated PG, had the potential to address several appropriate topics. Dr. Dolittle, with the help of his animal friends, realizes that he has fallen short in showing his family, especially his daughter, the love they deserve. There is also the aspect of helping save the forest for all of his animal friends which is being stripped by evil land developers. He does this by helping an endangered bear who grew up in the circus named Archie learn to adapt to living in the wild. On the surface these are story lines with merit and it would have been nice to have seen them addressed in an appropriate, meaningful way.
I always try to find some positive aspects in the films I see but this one is quite hard. There is crude humor that I have difficulty with, especially when the film is marketed towards young children. There is little redeeming moral value of the film and if it is a film you must see I would encourage you to wait until the film hits the discount theaters or video. I would also advise parents to watch the film before making the decision to let their young children watch it. This may be the kind of movie that Eddie Murphy wants his children to see but I would prefer others such as Shrek, Titan AE, and numerous other over recent years. If you insist on seeing Dr. Dolittle 2, I would advise you to see it soon because it won't be in first run theaters long.
I can hear the skunk telling me that on a scale of 1 - 10 this film stinks with a 4.
Copyright 2001, Mike Furches. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
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About Mike Furches: Mike is the senior pastor of United at the Cross Community Church in Wichita, Kansas. The church, located in the inner city of Wichita has a unique ministry to former gang members, drug addicts, prostitutes and others often neglected by the church. Mike also is involved in freelance writing and speaks nationally. Check out his web page for more information: http://www.furches.org/ E-mail Mike |
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