Dolittle (2020)

Summary

A doctor who can talk to animals goes on a nonsensical voyage to save the queen, with a menagerie of animals and a random boy in tow.

Director

Stephen Gaghan

Downey Factor

High, he plays the title character.

Character

Dr. John Dolittle, depressed weirdo veterinarian and steampunk engineering genius

Looks

Disheveled and dressed, like Sherlock Holmes if his clothing were all made from fabric scraps.

Performance

Strange but not in fun way.

Accent

Welsh.

Love & Sex

He pines for his late wife.

Dies, Gay or Villain

The movie is based on a 1920s children's book, so, obviously not.

Cast

Michael Sheen, Antonio Banderas, Jim Broadbent; Voice Only: Rami Malek, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Marion Cotillard, Emma Thompson, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani

Connection

Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Jim Broadbent in Richard III.

Rami Malek in Oppenheimer.

RDJ Says

 I finished the Marvel contract and then hastily went into what had all the promise of being another big, fun, well-executed potential franchise in Dolittle. I had some reservations. Me and my team seemed a little too excited about the deal and not quite excited enough about the merits of the execution. But at that point I was bulletproof. Honestly, the two most important films I’ve done in the last 25 years are The Shaggy Dog because that was the film that got Disney saying they would insure me. Then the second most important film was Dolittle because Dolittle was a two-and-a-half-year wound of squandered opportunity. The stress it put on my missus as she rolled her sleeves up to her armpits to make it even serviceable enough to bring to market was shocking. After that point—what’s that phrase? Never let a good crisis go to waste?—we had this reset of priorities and made some changes in who our closest business advisers were ... I heard that [Dolittle] was on the table. My missus who's my creative partner in all things said "Steve Gaghan." I was like, 'I know a Steve Gaghan? He did Syriana, really. Wow, that's a big turn for him.' … I looked out - we live on a rescue farm. We have alpacas and goats and cuni cuni pigs. It's just crazy. Same way I did with Iron Man a little bit, I was like, alright there's something here … Before I signed on I was just googling "weirdest welsh doctor." I didn't want to just do another English accent, so there's this guy William Price who was a nutty Welsh doctor, he was neo-Druidist. He was someone who believed we could communicate with all nature and all that stuff. I sent a picture of this wild-looking guy wearing like a suit with stars on it and like a staff in his hand - I sent that to Gaghan. He was like, "That looks right to me." I was like, great, let's do this movie … [Stephen Gaghan] was like, 'Does he have to be [like William Price] the whole way through?' I was like, 'No, no no, when they find him, he's a recluse, and the animals clean him up. Then he looks less unhandsome, less weird for the kids the rest of the way through, but let's find him like that.' … I have a 5 and an almost 8-year-old and they haven't been able to see any of these Marvel movies, so this was the first one that my kids came to the premiere.

Lit Reference

The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

Time & Place

Victorian England and various fictional islands

Gossip

This movie's release date was pushed back 8 months after it performed poorly in test screenings. The studio did 3 weeks of reshoots and brought in new writers and a new director to help overhaul the movie. Originally, the story focused more on Dr. Dolittle and his son reconnecting in their grief over Mrs. Dolittle's death, but the son character was changed into a random apprentice. They also added jokes, changed the ending to include the dragon's ass joke and shortened the title from The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle. Reportedly, at one point, a version of the movie had Dolittle removing an actual turd from the dragon's ass, but that mercifully was changed. Despite all the scrambling, there were no reports of problems between the actors or the director while filming.

Availability

Released in theaters January 19, 2020

Foreign Titles

Finland: Eläintohtori (Animal Doctor Dolittle)
Germany: Die fantastische Reise des Dr. Dolittle (The Fantastic Journey of Dr. Dolittle)
Russia: Dr. Dolittle's Amazing Journey (English translation)
Spain: Las aventuras del doctor Dolittle (The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle)
Vietnam: Dr. Dolittle: Mythological Adventure (English translation)

Rotten Tomatoes

16% fresh | 176 reviews

Critical View

Scott Tobias, NPR: Dolittle is not a film. Dolittle is a crime scene in need of forensic analysis. Something happened here. Something terrible.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: There really is no excuse for the harm done to Downey, a world-class actor who's sucked down into this quicksand of a movie that even Iron Man couldn't salvage. His dialogue appears to be dubbed; at times, his lips don't move with what he is saying. And when he is actually decipherable, it's all in service of a plot that defies logic or basic human interest.

David Sims, The Atlantic: He may be able to talk to the animals, but the good doctor should have talked to a competent screenwriter, or perhaps just to his agent, before getting embroiled in a mess like this one.

2 Reasons to See It

1. Because you also have a Robert Downey Jr film guide and need to see it firsthand to write an entry about it.
2. You didn't love seeing him in all those Marvel movies and want to see something that will make you appreciate the Tony Stark years more.

Overall

Full of flat jokes, bloodless violence, kooky costumes and CGI, this movie which won the Razzie for "Worst Picture" and was also nominated for Kid's Choice Awards "Best Picture" is bad enough to make you wonder how bad could it have really been before they tried to fix whatever was wrong with the original version.

If You Liked It

You may also like The Shaggy Dog, Heart and Souls

Photos

Video