Doctor Dolittle 2 ** (2001, Eddie Murphy, Cedric the Entertainer, Kristen Wilson) – Classic Movie Review 8753

Director Steve Carr’s jolly, quite entertaining, easy-going 2001 sequel to the 1998 Doctor Dolittle remake, Doctor Dolittle 2, brings Eddie Murphy back as Doctor John Dolittle MD, who must save a forest from nasty, greedy developers and a bear’s life. Kristen Wilson, Raven-Symoné and Kyla Pratt also return as Lisa, Charisse and Maya Dolittle.

Murphy gives a very pleasant, laid-back performance, though the screenplay is not exactly laugh-out-loud, or laugh-a-minute stuff, and the animatronics are as weak as the script. Two first-rate actors, Kevin Pollak and Jeffrey Jones, both adapt at comedy, are wasted as the shady lawyer and the tricky forester, though the film would be worse without them. Nice raccoon though.

Also in the cast are Cedric the Entertainer, Lil’ Zane, Denise Y Dowse, James Avery, Elayn J Taylor and Andy Richter.

Larry Levin’s screenplay is based on Hugh Lofting’s novels.

It is rated PG for language and crude humour. Again, it runs a brisk, short-seeming 87 minutes.

It cost an astounding $70,000,000, about the same as the first one, grossed $112,952,899 in the US, about the same as the first one, but with a cumulative worldwide gross of $176,104,344 against the original’s $294,456,605. A sequel was unlikely.

However, in 2019 Robert Downey Jr is filming a big-budget live-action/ CGI hybrid film, The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8753

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