Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.
Well, “Dr. Dolittle 2,” the new animal-heavy comedy, only stars one of those frightening creatures, and the movie hardly deserves an, “oh my!”
Starring Eddie Murphy, reprising his role as the title-character doctor who has the ability to converse with animals, the movie is steeped in run-of-the-mill fart jokes and a mild comedic punch that fills most modern “family” movies.
The movie follows Dolittle as he deals with his role as the doctor who splits his time between human and animal patients and attempts to spend time with his family, which is beginning to resent the amount of time he devotes to helping the animal kingdom.
While planning a trip to Europe to spend time with the family, a sudden tragedy engrosses the good doctor - an evil logging company is cutting down an entire forest, conveniently proximate enough for the woodland creatures to contact Dolittle to help.
So, Dolittle has to find a way to save the forest. The first recommendation, wonderfully enough, is that if the forest were home to an endangered species, it would be protected. Upon checking, Dolittle discovers, sure enough, there in an endangered inhabitant - a species of bear with only one female left in the woods, named Ava (voiced by Lisa Kudrow).
Of course, the species must have a male and a female, or it’s doomed. Upon looking for a male member of the species, Dolittle finds (imagine that!) there happens to be a performing bear, Archie (voiced by Steve Zahn) of the same species in a nearby city zoo.
And so begins the fish-out-of-water jokefest of Dolittle trying to get a city bear to live in the woods, to save an entire forest. And predictably, the standard bad guy, Jack Riley (Kevin Pollak), plots and schemes and raises his eyebrows in attempts to foil the hero animals’ plans.
The film does feature at least one nice emotional touch, thanks to Dolittle’s daughter Charisse, played by child-actor Raven-Symoné of “The Cosby Show” fame. She resents her father’s frequent absences from the family, but thanks to a predictable, but enjoyable, plot twist, the two are brought closer together in the culmination of the film.
Those familiar with Murphy’s work will be disappointed by the lowbrow tone of the movie, and left longing for the more intriguing days during which he wasn’t mired solely in sequels. He manages to stick to playing one character for this movie, unlike his last live-action film, “Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps,” and his comic abilities are still sharp, despite the material.
The casting director managed to find a great actor in Tank, the 7-foot, 800-pound bear that portrays Archie. The bear actually becomes the most believable and enjoyable member of the entire cast.
For those who enjoyed the first Dr. Dolittle film, this is much more of the same, with few surprises or real rewards for making the trip to the theater. Murphy seems more comfortable working with animals than he did in the previous film, and the technical aspect of the talking animals is perfect.
The movie tries as hard as possible to charm, but it doesn’t quite produce the warmth it aims for. And for a film that utilizes a whole forest full of warm and fuzzy animals, to fail at such an easy task is no small feat.
