A singing bear, a drunk monkey and a woodland mammal mafia! (Dr. Dolittle 2 (DVD))

Member Name: ross1979

Product:	Dr. Dolittle 2 (DVD)
Date:	01/08/01 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, Can be charming, Good voices

Disadvantages: Similar to number 1

The first Dr. Dolittle film, while not exactly sophisticated, was a bit of good-natured silliness with a number of pretty funny gags. Suprisingly enough, the sequel provides a good helping of the same again, and the result is a fairly likeable film.

Dr. John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) talks to the animals and the animal talk to him! They all look to him for help and advice. There are a number of laughs from the celebrity voices of the animals which show up at very inopportune moments with their various problems and ailments.

The film is definately targetted at kids. There is a great deal of scatological humour which kids love. It does not have the same extent of the sickly sweet moments which we find in many kids films, especially Disney. There are a few when it is singing the praises of family, but these are thankfully brief.

There is a conflict between Dolittle and his teenage daughter Charisse (Raven-Symone) who is embarassed at her family, especially her fathers particular talent. The resolution of the conflict is a little touching and almost makes up for the previous sickly sweet moments.

Dolittle is trying to keep a forest from being ripped down by a lumbar company. He is informed of the trouble by the rodent mafia! The only way he can save the forest is to prove that there is a viable endangered species in there. I say viable, because there was only one female bear, and the authorities will only accept an endangered species if there is a chance of continuation of the species.

So Dolittle locates a male bear which has grown up in a circus, and the courts give him a month to introduce the animal to the wild and ensure it mates with the female. The main problem being that the circus bear is clueless about life in the wild and prefers Elvis Presley music.

As in the first film, there are hilarious actors giving voices to the m
ain animal characters. Lisa Kudrow is Ava the female bear and Steve Zahn is Archie the circus bear. You instantly recognise their voices and they bring life to the characters. Kudrown is perfect for the elusive female and Zahn brings his talents in as one of the film's biggest goofballs!

When Archie turns up in the forest he regales the animals that have turned out to welcome him with his version of "I Will Survive." For a while, it looks like a false promise, but after a while he begins to get the hang of things. But before that, he complains about getting his paws dirty and about a fish touching him in the water - all pretty funny stuff!

There a number of smaller parts which are played quite well and the woodland mammal mafia are a hit. In summary, it is not an earth-shatteringly good film and it is more of the same old stuff, but it scores a few laughs - and thats what matters to me!

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