Margaret Brown, Senior
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Photo Courtesy of Univeral Pictures
The new Robert Downey Jr. movie, Dolittle, is a spinoff of Doctor Dolittle. Overall, Dolittle is an average family movie. It deserves a rating of 3 out of 5 stars. Some parts of this movie are really good, but most parts are just average. It had a little bit of everything - some action, some comedy, and some romance. It followed the cookie cuter format for the average family movie.
The plot was good, but it definitely followed the typical plot format of exposition, rising action, climax falling action, resolution. It follows that format so well that it would not be surprising if English teachers used this movie as a way to teach plot format. Following this formula so strictly results in a movie that feels very complete and is easy to follow but not super exciting. The exposition introduces all of the animals, Doctor Dolittle, played by Robert Downey Jr., and Tommy Stubbins, the animal-loving boy, played by Harry Collett. The rising action introduces the problem of the sick queen needing a magical cure that requires a quest to find. During the quest, we get the climax, followed by falling action and resolution with a message. The message was that helping leads to happiness. There were also many other good messages about overcoming challenges and the power of teamwork. The many positive messages displayed throughout the film are one of the best parts of it. There were lots of magical solutions used to get from scene A to B, but they did not create inconsistencies or confusion. To the less analytical eye, they could be seen as plot twists. For example, there was a family of ants that unlocked a door for Doctor Dolittle and Tommy, to get them to the next scene where Tommy gets the notebook that leads them to the magical cure.
Character development was decent, but the characters could have had a lot more depth. There are animals and a doctor that can talk to animals, so there is practically infinite potential for character development, but only a small portion of that potential was used. The character traits that were selected for each animal were very unique and unusual, in a cool way, but the way that they were developed was not realistic. If the animal characters were developed in a more realistic way, it would have made the characters much more relatable. The gorilla Chee-Chee, for example, had severe anxiety, but it was over-exaggerated in a way that misrepresented anxiety. It was both strange and a little cool to see mental illness be incorporated into a children’s movie. It seemed that character traits were conveyed way too much through words rather than through actions. For example, the polar bear was always cold, but instead of shivering all the time, he just wore a winter hat and randomly complained about being cold. Another way the characters could have been improved is by making them funnier.
There were a lot of unoriginal weak attempts at humor. The Ostrich, for example, really hates doing work, and the attempts he makes to avoid doing work are intended to be funny but are not because they are explained too much. The Ostrich buries his head in a flower pot in hopes that if he cannot hear doctor Dolittle he will not be forced to do work, but instead of acting this out, the Ostrich states his thoughts, completely ruining a moment that was supposed to be funny.
The acting was excellent and really brought the characters to life. Costumes were outstanding. The set design made the scenes come to life. Overall, Dolittle is a decent children’s movie that is generally entertaining but not particularly good because it fell short in the areas of character development and comedy.
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