Dr. John Dolittle lives in solitude behind the high walls of his lush manor in 19th-century England. His only companionship comes from an array of exotic animals that he speaks to on a daily basis. But when young Queen Victoria becomes gravely ill, the eccentric doctor and his furry friends embark on an epic adventure to a mythical island to find the cure.
When I write a review, I try my best to be constructive and to describe the aspects that I think could have been improved to make the film better than it was. In doing so, many of my reviews can get somewhat of a negative spin to them. I'm okay with this because, for the majority of my readers, they are aware of how I write and take my nit-picking thoughts with a grain of salt. What it also does, though is it reduces the hype around a film. I have had many films absolutely ruined for me because everyone loved it, all of the reviewers raved about it, or it had a super high Rotten Tomatoes score. I went in expecting to meet God, and instead, I only got a glimpse of heaven. It may have still been a great film, but because I expected the absolute pinnacle of filmmaking, I left disappointed. I see my role as a reviewer as someone that manages expectations, so that you can decide I was just nit-picking and then come back afterwards and tell me how much better the film was than you were expecting. Lowering expectations leads to more enjoyment in the end when the reader watches the film.
Unfortunately, I can't really do that for this remake of Dolittle, because it is one of the worst big-budget films of the year. The quality of this film is so low that I could not lower expectations enough to make this an enjoyable viewing experience. Dolittle is his Robert Downey Jr's first role post Avengers: Endgame, and he could not have chosen a worse role. It is as if Downey Jr (or the studio) was so concerned about how closely linked he is with the Iron Man character now, that there must have been an explicit directive to be as far away from Tony Stark as possible. From an unintelligibly gruff accent that near enough requires subtitles to understand the majority of it, to the hair and personality of a rabid hobo. Gone is any sense of charm, gone is any ability to understand the dialogue, and gone is the likeability of the character.
The fact that the film was originally released in January is a telling sign in itself. January is notoriously the dumping season for studios, as it is too late for an Awards nod, and too far away to be memorable when the next round comes around. But to have a big-budget remake with a budget of $175 million dollars dumped into a January slot? It is quite rare; this is when the cheap horrors and indie films thrive, having no big films to compete with.
Apart from Robert Downey Jr's unexpected character quirks, it is increasingly apparent that the majority of the film's budget would have gone towards the CGI and the voice cast; a cast that includes Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Craig Robinson, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, Will Arnett, Jason Mantzoukas, and Marion Cotillard. Do any of these characters stand out in any way that makes me remember their role? Not a single one. I literally had to check the Wikipedia article to find out who was involved.
The tone of the story is somewhat similar to that of the later Pirates of the Caribbean films; adventurous, however, toned down and full of over-the-top physical humour. The script is incredibly weak, to the point that everything that could count as the plot is simply provided by introducing a new character and being given exposition dialogue telling us to go to another location. It all hinges on the breathtaking CGI environments and character models, and while it could have been much worse, the effects were simply satisfactory. Dr Dolittle isn't an exciting main character. Not only is he not able to be understood, and not likeable, but he does not drive the story at all. He simply reacts to events that happen and that directs his actions. He does not have to make any significant character decisions and is simply passive, as far as the narrative goes.
There is no sense of wonder. There is no mystery. Everything is completely explained as soon as possible, with no sense of setting things up for a payoff later in the film. With no real character development arcs for any of the characters and creatures, there is no reason for the audience to care about anything that goes on onscreen.
What can I say, this is still a children's film. It has polar bears that wear hats because they are cold, a gorilla that is easily scared, and many other quirky animals, which may very well bring laughs to the mouths of the very young children. But for anyone over the age of 9, to not beat around the bush, this will bore you. Cats was a horrendous film, but at least it was entertainingly bad. Dolittle is simply unconvincing and engaging. The effects team did well with the CGI, but everything was pulled down by the lacklustre script, and unlikeable characters.