LogFAQs > #933027978

30. Doctor Dolittle

Karo: 3
Genny: 9
Inviso: 26
Scarlet: 31
Johnbobb: 33
KBM: 34
JONA: 35

Karo - The whimsical story of the british veterinarian who can talk, walk, etc, with the animals.
The plot seems a mite random and pulled out of a hat, but features brilliant dialogue that features so many of the most memorable lines in the project, and an underlying sense of wonder that makes things that should be dumb seem cute and magical.
Rex Harrison gives the good doctor a quiet dignity that makes him work even if he isnt a very good singer, and the whole thing is just a very fun watch.

Score: 81/100

Best Song: 'My Friend the Doctor'

Genny - As a huge fan of animals and less a fan of most people it was pleasant to see a protagonist that reflects some of my ideals in Dr. Dolittle. Many of the songs were incredibly catchy, even the nonsensical ones, Like Animals being a standout for me. I enjoyed the animal cast of actors especially Polynesia and her very human voice actress, and the human actors did a great job as well even if I personally felt the addition of Emma Fairfax wasn't solely necessary to the group dynamic. The main reason I don't have this higher is that the movie feels a bit overlong. It never wears out its welcome, but it does lag at points, the entire ship ride being a chief example.

Inviso - It amazes me that a film with little to no plot could manage to drag on for two and a half hours. This is the kind of goofy premise that SHOULD have been a tight ninety minutes, and it SHOULD have had some more energetic and enjoyable songs. Instead, most of the musical numbers were sung in a weird baritone, and the female leads vocals werent enough to offset the Doctor himself, and hisIrish? companion. But yeah, the plot is just Doctor Dolittle hates people, so he decides to become a veterinarian, and learns how to speak to animals by way of his parrot teaching him a fuckton of languages. Annnnnd thats pretty much it. Sure, there are some scenarios, like him getting arrested and sent to an insane asylum, or going on a sea voyage and washing up on some tribal islandbut nothing really happens, and its a pretty dull affair overall.

Scarlet - I admittedly have a subjective soft spot in my heart for anything Rex Harrison, but objectively, this film nearly curtailed the entire musical genres success single-handedly, and there was a reason for that. There is a certain delight and charm to the character of Dolittle himself, but the movie itself is mired in unremarkable music and an even more unremarkable script.
Best Song: Talk to the Animals

Johnbobb - I don't really watch showtunes often, so when I do I don't always notice things like the work that must go into all the dancing and choreography. But when they're gone, I noticed, and that's definitely the case here. Every song is all but just sang while standing in place, which is particularly weird for a movie whose main appeal relies on its creativity. Ultimately it was just kind of a drag. It had it's fun moments, and I didn't really dislike anything in particular, but when I'm at an hour left already wondering when it's gonna be done, then something isn't right. The creativity put into the silly animals just wasn't also put into making it an overall fun time.
Favorite song: Talk to the Animals

KBM - Why I Chose It: One of many very costly box office bombs of the mid-to-late '60s that contributed to the near-death of the movie musical, Doctor Dolittle (based on Hugh Lofting's popular series of novels) is as notorious for its myriad behind-the-scenes issues as for anything in the movie itself. Thanks to a massive studio campaign, it was nominated for nine Oscars including Best Picture, winning two (Best Special Effects and Best Original Song for Talk to the Animals), despite widely negative reception from critics and audiences upon its release. The film's costly budget nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox, and its $200 million worth of unsold tie-in merchandise also killed movie merchandising campaigns for nearly ten years (until the massive fortune George Lucas made on Star Wars revived the concept). There were also problems on set, with Rex Harrison going on racist tirades against Jewish co-star Anthony Newley and Black co-star Geoffrey Holder. The 1,200 animals on set also made things quite chaotic for the cast and crew incidents included ducks forgetting how to swim, a parrot that learned how to yell Cut!, and one particularly memorable instance in which a giraffe stepped on Rex Harrison's crotch. All of this (and more) contributes to a film that, if not necessarily considered a classic by most, is still discussed in great detail by movie history buffs today.

My Thoughts: As entertaining as the behind-the-scenes stories are (and I really only hit a few of the highlights above), the movie itself is just a slog to actually sit through. The film seems hell-bent on recreating the lightning in a bottle that was Rex Harrison's performance as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, but it just... doesn't work at all here. The Henry Higgins character is boorish, obnoxious, childish and misogynistic, and whereas those qualities work for the character in My Fair Lady thanks to strong scripting, good songs, and the interplay between Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, in this movie those qualities are just wildly annoying. His speak-singing also doesn't work nearly as well here. The pacing is incredibly slow, the songs by Leslie Bricusse are, for the most part, pale imitations of much better ones from My Fair Lady, and the musical numbers are staged very poorly, with weird cinematography and even more awkward choreography. The most... entertaining part of the movie comes when Dolittle sings a love song to a seal dressed up as a human, kisses her, and then tosses her into the ocean. There are a couple of songs I didn't mind, primarily the ones sung by Anthony Newley who is the only member of the cast who appears to be really trying throughout the movie. All in all, just a dull, dull affair, and one that didn't merit nearly the amount of budget and advertising that it received in its time.

Favorite Song: Beautiful Things

JONA - This was probably one of the worst watching experiences Ive had in one of these projects. Definitely not outright terrible, but it is such a chore to sit through. Rex Harrison was great in My Fair Lady and he puts on the same performance here. That would be a good thing if the characters he played in Doctor Dolittle and My Fair Lady were the same character but theyre not. The story is just a combination of stories thrown together. This could have been