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Eddie Murphy is back in what is being touted by Fox as `The funniest movie since The Nutty Professor'. Hell, it's not even the funniest Eddie Murphy movie since The Nutty Professor. Well, that's true if you can count Mulan as an Eddie Murphy movie. And who would have thought that the trash-talking comic would have two kiddie-pics open in back-to-back weekends?
Based on the Hugh Lofting books and its 1967 musical predecessor, Doctor Dolittle stars Murphy in the title role of a man who can communicate with the animals. It's a bless/curse he discovered as a child, but blocked it out when his father (Ossie Davis, I'm Not Rappaport) sent the family dog to the pound.
Dolittle resurrects his special talent when he accidentally hits a dog in his fancy doctor utility vehicle. The fun ensues via dozens of cameo voice appearances by seemingly every star in Hollywood. Half of the fun is trying to figure out who is who and the other half is trying to read the credits while the people in front of you stand up and scratch their asses for the better part of five minutes.
I'm not saying that Doctor Dolittle is bad or boring. In fact, it's quite funny for the first thirty minutes, but after that it's kind of like beating a dead horse. A dead talking horse. Most of the good stuff has already appeared in the trailer and most of it can be classified as `toilet humor' or `potty jokes', which is my favorite.
Murphy is pretty bland in his somewhat confined roll, but more disappointing is the direction of Betty Thomas (Private Parts, The Late Shift), whose previous efforts are more of a fly-on-the-wall documentary style features. Perhaps the limited subject matter (from first time writer Larry Levin and The Preacher's Wife scribe Nat Mauldin) has cost Thomas her usually brilliantly sharp comic edge. Dolittle seems very flat and very by-the-numbers. But, at least it's not a musical.
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