I Watch Films: Doolittle

 Doolittle

Dr Dolittle can talk to the animals. He has become a recluse but is tempted out when the Queen (Victoria presumably) falls ill. She has been poisoned (apparently the villains don’t want a girl-queen because it makes Britain look weak) and the only cure is from the Edentree which has never been found and in fact Doolitle’s wife Lily died trying to find it.

The CGI animals are not bad, a little cartoonish which is good because the film is very silly. Doolittle and his unwanted apprentice Stubbins have wacky adventures with various comedy animals, some of whom have mental problems that he’s helping them with. They’re chased by the steam frigate Britannia (sigh) which does not look like an 1840s Royal Navy vessel, but, like “Buckingham Palace,” and the distance of it to Dollittle’s ship overland (it’s near Bristol) this is churlish to complain about.

Less churlish perhaps is that Robert Downey Junior, who has at least one and a half perfectly good English accents has to play Doolittle with a very mediocre Welsh accent. And the film has two pretty good (human) female characters in Lily Doolittle and Lady Rose, and sidelines them both, killing Lily in the introduction and keeping Lady Rose at the bedside of the Queen looking on ignorantly as the bad guys plot and the guard dog does some of its business. It seems to want to make this a boy’s adventure, except that it’s lighthearted animal comedy which would work just as well as a whole family film, an awkward reference to The Godfather suggesting they were trying to put some jokes in for the adults.

But it’s not truly all ages. I imagine it will entertain small children for a couple of hours, and if they connect with the animals it might be a favourite? Not a favourite for me though.

Watch This: For an undemanding kid’s adventure, curiously old-fashioned feeling and not in a good way despite the excellent CGI.
Don’t Watch This: If you want smart plotting or interesting characters