There is nothing worse than a movie that fails to deliver, especially a remake. Unfortunately Dolittle falls under that category.
Even with a budget of $175 million the film proves that without a well-developed story and screenplay, no matter if the cast is star-studded, it will fail.
The film starts with the strange Dr. Dolittle coming out of a reclusive state after being asked for assistance in finding the cure for the Queen’s mysterious poisoning.
Dolittle was given a great cast, most notably Robert Downey Jr. in the title role. This is Downey’s first film post his portrayal of Iron Man in the Marvel Avengers films.
Many audience members have vocalized a dislike of his performance as the offbeat Dr.Dolittle; however, it seems that what audiences are truly upset about is that this role is not the Iron Man that he made famous. Although his performance was well, it could have been two times better had he been given a well-developed screenplay to play with as there is little to no character development through the whole film.
Another aspect that just fell flat is the jokes in the film. The amount of jokes made about animals’ nether regions is obnoxious as it seemed to be the only kind of jokes the writers could come up with.
There are also a few disconnects in the story which may be a product of a number of reshoots with different directors.
One of the positives of the film is some of the amazing CGI work. All of the animals in the film are CGI but still manage to look life-like rather than cartoonish. The scenery as they sail the sea and explore different lands is absolutely breathtaking.
This is a film that may be most enjoyable to very young children as it is very visually stimulating and has a simple plot for them to follow. The overall tale that is told is so simple that you forget why you are even watching it in the first place, and it’s a shame that many ideas that could have been explored were overlooked by writers.
