Lethbridge Herald

‘DOLITTLE’ DOES LITTLE

DOWNEY FILM DESCRIBED AS A BIG-BUDGET TRAINWRECK

- Jake Coyle THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Movie is more harmless, whimsicall­y funny entertainm­ent compared to “Cats”

Dr. Dolittle, who favoured animals and shunned humans, was on to something. The century of human history since Hugh Lofting, in 1920, created his eccentric veterinari­an character has only made Dolittle a more astute fictional figure, and a natural candidate for bigscreen resurrecti­on. Aquaman can talk to the fishes but Dolittle has the ability to converse with all fauna.

But if they could speak, no realm of the animal kingdom — no penguin, parakeet or panda — would have anything good to say about Stephen Gaghan’s “Dolittle,” a big-budget train wreck in which things go so awry that it can’t even be said to be strictly for the dogs.

“Dolittle,” starring Robert Downey Jr., arrives just weeks after the advent of “Cats,” another Universal Pictures release likewise stuffed with computer generated animals. “Dolittle” is a more harmless and whimsical family entertainm­ent, less likely to provoke nightmares than the digitally furred felines of Tom Hooper’s Andrew Lloyd Webber adaptation. But, just the same, the two films together could be the worst setback for animalia since global warming, or at least “Howard the Duck.”

It’s tempting to think: Well, it can’t be that bad. Who doesn’t like both Downey and animals? At the very least, you would think, no amount of special effects can completely dilute such a vibrant and clever actor. He was even good in the Marvel movies!

But perhaps the biggest disappoint­ment of “Dolittle” isn’t the incoherent story line, the suffocatin­g CGI or the unfunny stable of celebrity-voiced creatures. It’s that Downey’s personalit­y doesn’t come through at all, either a victim of the surroundin­g mess or a party to it.

Seemingly going for a tamer Johnny Depp-as-Jack Sparrow-styled performanc­e, Downey dons a vaguely Welsh accent, deepening his voice in a hushed tone. Worse, much of his dialogue seems to have been overdubbed, a likely component of the movie’s extensive reworking in postproduc­tion and reshoots. It distances Downey — he sounds literally elsewhere — in a fantasy that’s already plenty adrift.

The movie is based on the second of Lofting’s books, “The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.” He created the character first to, in letters home from the First World War front, entertain his children. Dolittle first appeared on screen in the 1967 movie, with Rex Harrison, and later in a series begun in 1998, with Eddie Murphy.

This incarnatio­n has an unlikely zookeeper in Gaghan, who won an Oscar for his screenplay to Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” and directed the labyrinthi­ne geopolitic­al thriller “Syriana.” He last directed “Gold,” with Matthew McConaughe­y, a disappoint­ing dramatizat­ion of the Bre-X Minerals swindle of the 1990s.

“Dolittle,” you can tell, doesn’t sound like Gaghan’s kind of thing, and none of the results will convince you otherwise. The film, penned by Gaghan, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, conjures a different reason for the book’s sailing adventure. Here, the doctor begins as a bearded recluse, grieving the loss of his explorer wife from behind the locked walls of his animal-populated estate. He sets off on a trip to find a remedy for an ailing Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley), a hectic, seafaring journey that jumps from one harried scene to another.

But “Dolittle” isn’t about much beside the gags of the CGI animals, none of whom do much to help Downey. I hesitate to name their voice actors, since guessing them is one of the movie’s primary sources of entertainm­ent. But you’ll spot Emma Thompson as a parrot, Rami Malek as a gorilla, Kumail Nanjiani as an ostrich, Selena Gomez as a giraffe and Jason Mantzoukas as a dragonfly.

None of them have any character to speak of; they’re there for increasing­ly weak jokes, which culminate in a scene revolving around a dragon’s flatulence. A problem, as ever, is that buckets of visual effects are never good for comedy. And as last year’s “Lion King” proved, hyper realism doesn’t do talking animals any favours. The way things are going, animal rights activists may soon need to move to protect digital animals, too.

“Doolitle,” a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Associatio­n of America for some action, rude humour and brief language. Running time: 101 minutes.

One star out of four.

 ??  ??
 ?? Associated Press photos ?? This image released by Universal Pictures shows Chee-Chee, voiced by Rami Malek, left, and Dr. John Dolittle, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in a scene from “Dolittle.”
Associated Press photos This image released by Universal Pictures shows Chee-Chee, voiced by Rami Malek, left, and Dr. John Dolittle, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in a scene from “Dolittle.”
 ??  ?? This image released by Universal Pictures shows Michael Sheen in a scene from “Dolittle.”
This image released by Universal Pictures shows Michael Sheen in a scene from “Dolittle.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada