As one of the most unlikely franchises in Hollywood history, the Doctor Dolittle movies have somehow become a mainstay of the talking animal sub-genre. Though Doctor Doolittle was released all the way back in 1967 to middling reviews, it eventually became a cult classic. It wasn’t until the loose 1998 adaptation of Hugh Lofting’s source material, however, that the franchise really began to take off. While Dr. Dolittle didn’t have much luck with the critics, Eddie Murphy’s star power was able to make the movie a box office success. Even though that film got a theatrical and two direct-to-video sequels, the franchise has remained dormant in the time since. With the reboot of the franchise, simply titled Dolittle and starring Robert Downey Jr., finally arriving in theaters, how does it stack up to the 1998 film? Let’s find out!
Cover Photo: Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox
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Even for the average layman, there’s no doubt that Dolittle comes close to being an unmitigated disaster. With a production budget that rivals most summer blockbusters at $175 million, it’s honestly a miracle that anyone even greenlit the project to begin with. Considering that the same studio also produced the atrocity against humanity that is Cats, this also isn’t surprising. Regardless, Dolittle is the type of movie that is meant to appeal to children and adults alike. Unfortunately, it ends up appealing to neither of these demographics, ultimately making something that won’t really appeal to most people.
Overall Winner: Dr. Dolittle
MMB: Doctor Dolittle vs Dolittle
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Cinematography
Both Dr. Dolittle and its more recent counterpart won’t be lauded for their cinematography. Despite this, the cinematography in Dolittle is heads and tails above that of the Eddie Murphy version. It’s not that the latter is bad; it’s that the film is very much a product of the '90s. In other words, the cinematography in Dr. Dolittle is dated.
Winner: Dolittle
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Comedy
Although both movies are primarily comedies, neither movie is entirely effective – just merely amusing. For some reason, this franchise seems to lean heavily into scatological humor. While Dolittle certainly tries to mitigate this type of comedy for most of its runtime, the climax of the movie (spoiler alert) literally features Robert Downey Jr. pulling a bagpipe out of an animal’s ass. Seriously, that’s not even a joke. For this reason and this reason only, Dr. Dolittle wins this round.
Winner: Dr. Dolittle
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Direction
Helmed by Stephen Gaghan, the direction in Dolittle is subpar at best. Considering that the filmmaker was essentially replaced during the much-publicized reshoots because of reportedly awful prerelease test screenings, it’s not surprising that there’s a real lack of vision in Dolittle. While Betty Thomas’ direction in Dr. Dolittle isn’t setting the world on fire, there’s at least a certain sense of cohesion to the filmmaking.
Winner: Dr. Dolittle
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Writing
Written by Gaghan, Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Chris McKay, the screenplay for Dolittle is honestly all over the place. It’s essentially written to be a fantasy adventure movie, which is an interesting yet weird choice for the franchise. While the film certainly has threads of solid storytelling structure, it’s pretty clear that the choppy editing hurts the storytelling in a major way. Not to mention forced character arcs and a weak villain. Although the 1998 version isn’t a masterpiece of screenwriting by any means, it’s a far better constructed and effective movie than its successor.
Winner: Dr. Dolittle
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Visual Effects
One of the draws of a would-be franchise like Doctor Dolittle is naturally the talking animals. As a result, both movies have crucial visual effects elements that are required to bring this to fruition. Although the Murphy version actually uses real animals with faces that are augmented by visual effects, they are also rudimentary compared to what the most recent film accomplishes. On the flip side, Dolittle features digitally-created animals that are, for the most part, photo real. While this doesn’t make the movie worthwhile, the effects work is impressive nevertheless.
Winner: Dolittle
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Supporting Cast
For a franchise that largely rests the creative weight of the story on its leading performers, both films have eclectic ensemble casts that voice the various animals in the story. Dr. Dolittle contains an excellent supporting cast that includes Oliver Platt, Jeffery Tambour, Paul Giamatti, with Norm MacDonald, Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Gilbert Gottfried, and many others providing voice work. On the other hand, Dolittle features Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen, and Jim Broadbent in live-action roles, while the voice cast consists of (takes a deep breath), Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Ralph Fiennes, and Marion Cotillard, among others. For those keeping track, Dolittle features three Oscar winners, which is the reason why it ultimately wins this round.
Winner: Dolittle
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Leading Performance
As one of his only two characters not named Tony Stark in the past eight years, Dolittle was clearly designed to be Robert Downey Jr.’s next big franchise. While Downey is certainly committed to the role in a way that most actors wouldn’t be, it doesn’t change the fact that the movie around him is absolute garbage. Similarly, Dr. Dolittle is one of Eddie Murphy’s most middling roles. It’s one of Murphy’s rare roles playing the straight man, which makes his performance feel like a paycheck movie more than anything else. Even though Downey Jr. makes arguably less safe choices and is clearly trying to make the best movie possible, Murphy’s performance is undoubtedly far more complete than his successor.
Winner: Dr. Dolittle
