[Review] Dolittle(2020) {5/10}

Directed by Stephen Gaghan from a screenplay by Gaghan, Dan Gregor, and Doug Mand, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. (Dolittle), Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen (Dr. Blair Mudfly) in live-action roles, with Rami Malek (Chee-Chee), Kumail Nanjiani (Plimpton), Tom Holland (Jip), Craig Robinson (Fleming), Ralph Fiennes (Arnall Stubbins), Jessie Buckley (Queen Victoria) and Carmel Laniado (Lady Rose).

The plot follows Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) who is a famous, reclusive doctor who embarks on a magical odyssey -- with the help of a crew of talking animals -- to find a cure to save an ill Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley) in 19th-century England. Based on Hugh Lofting's Newbery Prize-winning 1922 novel The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, this take on the classic children's story boasts a star-studded cast.

The first thing you will notice about the film is the tone, which is predictably all over the place, but in an astonishing, blatant way, as if no one actually gives a damn about the audience noticing this. Director Stephen Gaghan, who earlier made the terrific Syriana and the okay Gold, does not seem like the ideal choice for a whimsical movie like this because the story begins in a chirpy animated form but suddenly slips into a dark and depressing jaunt about a man crying over a woman who left him. Such tonal shifts keep occurring throughout the film making you wonder if there were too many cooks at the helm here. The majority of the good moments come from the assortment of Dolittle’s animal friends, who are incidentally voiced by famous people with recognizable voices but they exist in vacuum, as the focus remains mainly on our lead character, who does not seem to have much charisma. Downey Jr ’s performance is, quite simply, peculiar. He delivers his lines in a variety of different accents which gives you the impression of him channeling his character from Tropic Thunder. The entire film, in fact, also seems like one of the fake trailers from that movie. The sum of the movie creates an uncanny valley that may be too distracting for some adults, even if kids don't notice or care. Dolittle is unlikely to resonate for as long as Lofting's novels have. It does provide a couple of hours of decent family entertainment but even that's not enough.

Dolittle is now available now on Digital and Blu-ray.