Dr. Dolittle (1998 film)
| Dr. Dolittle | |
|---|---|
 The movie cover for Dr. Dolittle. | |
| Directed by | Betty Thomas |
| Written by | Hugh Lofting Nat Mauldin Larry Levin |
| Produced by | John Davis David T. Friendly Joseph Singer |
| Starring | Eddie Murphy Oliver Platt Kristen Wilson Richard Schiff Kyla Pratt Raven-Symoné |
| Music by | Richard Gibbs |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates | June 12, 1998 |
Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70,500,000 (estimated) |
Dr. Dolittle is an American comedy film, released in 1998 and starring Eddie Murphy as a doctor who discovers that he has the ability to talk to (and understand) animals. The film was based on the series of children's stories of the same name, but none of the material from any of the novels was used; in fact, it could be said that one of the few resemblances is a doctor who can speak to animals. Notably the pushmi-pullyu, a much loved feature of the books, only makes a very brief appearance in the first scene in which the tiger appears in his cage. This film has been a remake 1967 musical under the same title, a closer adaptation to the book. However, the earlier film was a box office bomb, but still remains a cult classic.
The remake, however, was a success, and generated a theatrical sequel that was released in 2001, simply titled Dr. Dolittle 2. Both films also starred Raven Symone and Kyla Pratt as Dolittle's daughters. A third movie, Dr. Dolittle 3, with Pratt playing the main character, was released direct-to-video in 2006, however, it did not star Eddie Murphy or Symone. A fourth film, Dr. Dolittle: Tail To The Chief, was released straight to DVD in 2008.
Summary
The film starts out with Lucky the Dog (Norm Macdonald) is explaining in narration how it is so easy to pretend to talk with your dog. He then adds, "but what if it was not pretend?"
The film now opens to John Dolittle as a kid talking to his Dog (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres). He asks his dog questions, one being "Why do dogs sniff each others butts"? Her response is that it's their way of shaking hands. His father (Ossie Davis) hears the question and says that the dog doesn't have any idea what he said. He was wrong. He finds this out when John meets his new principal, he sniffs his butt. The dog obviously knows something is going to happen. When his father hires a minister to remove the evil from him (and freaking him out), the dog saves him by biting the minister. The dog is then taken up for adoption. John is very upset now. He never talks to animals again (for now).
Thirty years later, we see John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) shooing a puppy out of his apartment. He is a doctor, married with two kids. His oldest daughter Charisse (Raven Symone) is a gangster gal who wants to be named Paprika. His youngest daughter Maya (Kyla Pratt) is a nerdy girl who does experiments, such as raising a swan egg (or so she thinks) so it will bond with her. She also has a Guinea Pig named Rodney (Chris Rock). His wife Lisa (Kristen Wilson) just wants to spend time with him. Meanwhile at work, a big medical company owner Calloway (Peter Boyle) wants to buy the company. Everyone is very excited because this means much more money. John also takes his family out in the country for vacation. After taking the family to the country, he has to stay late at work to give Mrs. Parkus (Cherie Franklin), a woman who is addicted to shellfish even though she is really allergic to it, medication.
Driving home, he accidentily hits Lucky. Even though he feels terrible, Lucky, alive and well, walks away and shouts "Watch where you're going next time, you bone-head!". This is the first time an animal talks to him years later. While asleep, Rodney sneaks from under the covers to see John. The next day, he is driving Rodney to the country and Rodney starts talking to him. He than realizes that John can speak to animals but John says that the thing that made him talk to animals would not affect him but after those years, this starts happening to him. To stop the annoyance, John puts Rodney on the roof of the car.
Up in the country, an owl wants him to remove a twig in her wing. After this happens, she tells all the animals about this. Soon, animals start asking favors to John. Scared, he goes to see Dr. Litvak (Steven Gilborn) for a CAT scan, but nothing is wrong with him. He then meets two trash eating rats that obiously don't like him. The next day he finds Lucky being taken to a kennel.
So he takes Lucky out and then to the vet. Thinking he got rid of Lucky, Lisa calls and Lucky starts woofing to make it sound like John got a Dog. So John makes a deal with Maya. If she stays at camp, Lucky is all hers. That night, a large bunch of animals come to see the Doctor for treatment, such as a drunken circus monkey, two dysfunctional pigeons, a homosexual goat with a rash, an OCD dog , and some cloned sheep with rectal trauma. After treating a horse with near-sightedness, the drunk monkey tells the Doctor about a sick circus tiger (voiced by Albert Brooks). They find him atop a 5-story building attempting to commit suicide, while the rats make fun of him. John and Lucky confront him saying that everyone loves tigers(using Tony the Tiger and "Eye of the Tiger" as examples) and that he can cure him. his working with animals is distracting him from a meeting with Calloway and spending time with his wife. Soon Lisa finds all the animals.
She and Mark catch him giving CPR to one of the rats, which was a false alarm (a.k.a Gas). They send him to an asylum, where he meets Blaine, one of his enemies from medical school. Meanwhile, the Tiger is getting sicker, so Lucky tries to save John. John is mad at all the animals for sending him to the asylum. But Lucky says that he is hiding from his past self. With the help of Blaine's cat, John is released. Maya is home because she did not fit in, but she tells her Grandpa that she believes her dad has the gift of gab. Overhearing this, he realizes his mistake, so during the party where Calloway will buy the company, John and Lucky kidnap the tiger so they can cure him. Meanwhile, Rodney is at the party having fun. They break Mark's nose so they can get to the emergency room. Meanwhile, the police are after Dolittle, but Lucky gathers all the animals of San Francisco to help guard the building in which John is operating on the tiger.
But because they need to go through the party, and because Rodney is there, the tiger, whose name is Jake, comes out from under the hospital bed and scares everyone. Now everyone is watching the operation. Lisa is now upset that her husband thinks he can talk to animals. John's father finally reveals that he, in fact, can. With that said, she comes in the operating room to comfort the tiger. John finds out that it is a blood clot, and with that, saves his life. Calloway is watching this and he is very amused. He wants to buy the company, but John refuses.
In the end, John is now a both human doctor and an animal doctor. Maya's egg hatches, revealing to be an alligator. The rats are mad that the ending is happy, but the owl shows up and chases them away. John and Lucky are seen walking to the circus and talking about things, while the song "Talk with the Animals" plays in the background.
Soundtrack
The Dr. Dolittle Soundtrack was released in 1998 about half a year after the movie. The album soundtrack featured Aaliyah, Ray J, Timbaland, All Saints, R. Kelly, Ginuwine, Dawn Robinson and Missy Elliott, as well as other less-known artists. The lead single That's Why I Lie managed to peak at number 71 on the UK chart only. The album's second single "Are You That Somebody" recorded by Aaliyah and featuring Timbaland reached top ten on several charts, eventually making it to number one on the R&B Airplay chart and number 1 in New Zealand. The soundtrack reached #3 on the Billboard 200 and #2 in US R&B, selling almost 140,000 copies in the opening week. The album stayed in the charts for a good 34 weeks. The album is certified Double Platinum, with soundscan sales of over 2 million. It spent 25 weeks on the R&B Charts.
External links
- Dr. Dolittle at IMDb