DOCTOR DOLITTLE

US, 1998, 86 minutes, Colour.
Eddie Murphy, Ossie Davis, Oliver Platt, Peter Boyle, Richard Schiff, Kristen Wilson, Jeffrey Tambour, Raven -Symone.
Voices of: Albert Brooks, Chris Rock, Rennie Santoni, John Leguizamo, Julie Kavner, Gary Shandling, Ellen de Generes, Brian Doyle -Murray, Jenna Elfman, Paul Rubens, Jonathan Lipnicki.
Directed by Betty Thomas.

Doctor Dolittle is a star vehicle for Eddie Murphy who was moving from serious/comic police roles to straight out family films (although they do have their touch of crudity and bodily function jokes).

The stories are by British Hugh Lofting but transferred to the United States and to the present. (There was a more British version of Lofting’s stories in 1967, a huge musical with Rex Harrison as Doctor Dolittle.)

The film opens with John Dolittle as a boy, his father (Ossie Davis) not approving of his pretending to talk to animals. Which he really does. He loses his gift but one day in an accident with a dog, is insulted by the dog, and gets his gift back. When he rediscovers the dog and starts to treat him, there are long lines of animals for treatment as the word gets round. His colleagues in the medical centre, which is to be bought by a corporation, become suspicious and have him put away. However, he vindicates himself, is a great favourite with the animals – especially a tiger from a circus who needs healing.

Eddie Murphy does this kind of role very easily. He has a good supporting cast including Oliver Platt as the head of the institution. However, it is in the large number of supporting actors who voice the animals where there is a great deal of humour, especially one-liners. Chris Rock, who tends to imitate some of the style of Eddie Murphy, is very good indeed as the hamster. Albert Brooks, always giving a touch of the mournful, also contributes to the humour.

Some have seen the film as very subversive, while there are jokes about fat people and others, it actually celebrates people being different, Murphy talking to the animals, treating them (even physically) as patients, as well as the unusual people who populate a circus.

The film was directed by Betty Thomas, who directs light films including The Brady Bunch, Twenty-Eight? Days Later and directed Murphy in the spoof I Spy? with Owen Wilson.

Doctor Dolittle 2 was released in 2001.

1.The popularity of the original stories? From the past? From Britain? The adaptation to the United States? Updated? More credible or not?

2.The tongue-in-cheek tone of the film, the what if…? component? Doctor Dolittle, talking to animals, animals speaking, animals needing medical attention, the way that they were treated?

3.Doctor Dolittle and his childhood, his relationship with his father, talking to the animals, his father’s severity? His place in the family? Believing his father, his losing his gift?

4.The older Doctor Dolittle, his relationship with his wife, the tensions when he works with the animals? His children and his love for them? Their helping him with the animals?

5.The accident with the dog, the dog’s angry reaction? Doctor Dolittle finding it later, taking it away, tending it?

6.The word getting round, the variety of animals joining the queue? The range, the humour? The importance of the voices – and the strong cast voicing the animals? Chris Rock and his humour as the hamster? The pathos with the tiger?

7.The institution, the worry about Doctor Dolittle? Doctor Weller and his concern? The contract for the selling of the centre? The executives and the businessmen? The pressure on the administration?

8.John Dolittle, interned, his getting out, the help of the animals? The hamster?

9.The tiger, the need for healing, the circus? His taking on the tiger – and everybody afraid? Healing the tiger? The return to the circus? The circus scenes – and enjoyment of the variety of performers at the circus?

10.The happy ending, the reconciliation with the family? His acknowledging his gifts? The animals and their treatment?

11.An entertaining film – the humour, bodily function humour and parents thinking it perhaps unsuitable? Yet the overall appeal to a family audience?