"Dr. Dolittle 2"
The doctor is in once again as Eddie Murphy reprises his role as the man who can walk with the animals and talk with the animals in "Dr. Dolittle 2."
The summer movie season and the success of the 1998 remake of Hugh Lofting's long successful children's stories have made a sequel to "Dr. Dolittle" inevitable. And, you get what you expect, though without the little surprises the first story had, with the good doctor honing his "talent" to converse with critters. This time around, we know Dr. D, his family and some of the animal crew (Lucky the Dog (voiced by Norm MacDonald), the rats and the drunken monkey (Phil Proctor) appear again) and are introduced to a whole new gaggle of talking creatures.
Now, Dr. John Dolittle is secure in his God-given gift and opened his clinic doors to humans and animals alike. With his professional life in good working order, John turns his attention to his family, only to find that his daughter, Charisse (Raven-Symone), has become withdrawn and petulant. As he tries to cope with the emotional state of his teenager, he is solicited by a tough-talking raccoon that insists that the doctor come to the nearby forest to have a sit down with his boss, known as The Beaver. The doc agrees to makes the journey and, to his horror, discovers that a lumber company is clear-cutting the forest for profit and the forest creatures' homes are in peril.
Dr. John looks into the situation and finds there is no way to stop the devastation - except if it will save an endangered species. One such candidate is a lone female Pacific Western bear that lives in the woods, but without a mate to propagate the species, the government refuses to save her or the forest. The only male bear of the same species anywhere nearby is the member of a circus troupe and he, Archie (Steve Zahn), refuses to give up his creature comforts - until he catches sight of the attractive femme bear, Eva (Lisa Kudrow). In a Rocky-esque series of events, Dr. Dolittle vows to help change Archie's behavior and introduce the bruin to the forest (and Eva) to make little bears. It's a battle against the clock as John struggles to make Archie a true bear of the world while they try to save the habitat of all the other animals.
"Dr. Dolittle 2" is just what you expect, no less and not more. Half of the film consists of a whole bunch of animal animatronics and computer graphics that give the desired anthropomorphism that we came to enjoy so much the first time around. This is where almost every laugh comes from as the various creatures strut their stuff and sass the good doctor. Man, for some reason, loves to give a human persona to his animals and "Dr. D 2" strikes the right note. When the godfather-like Beaver explains, "I'm just a fisherman blessed with many friends," a la Don Corleone, or his hench-raccoon, Joey, (Michael Rapaport) uses a cell phone, it is funny. The rest of the critters get to put their funny two cents in, too.
The human half of the story fares less well, mainly because it's just too human. There is an evil plot by the state government, greedy businessmen (Jeffrey Jones) and, of course, their lawyers (Kevin Pollack) to destroy the land and make all the animals homeless. The forest critters, led by the understanding Dr. Dolittle, must do battle to stop the megalith and they do so in a way that would make Gandhi proud. But, the man story is the least of the two halves.
The human characters, except for Murphy as the doctor, are superfluous. When John has tender moments with his family or faces off against the corporate baddies, you just want him to go back to the animals. I think, for the next sequel (and I guarantee there will be another), they should forget the people and stick with the animals.
With Lucky marking his territory over and over and Archie having intestinal problems at one point, we are talking lowest common denominator, humor-wise. The target for the toilet humor is the younger audience (which is why more animals/less plot would be better, at least from a kid's POV). The "story" of saving the environment is simply a frame to lay the gags upon and provide the attending parents with an "adult" story when they take their kids to see the doctor and his friends. But, "Dr. Dolittle 2" is for kids and for the kid in us. I give it a C+.
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