Cast: Eddie Murphy, Oliver Platt, voices of: Norm Macdonald, Chris Rock, Albert Brooks, Jenna Elfman,, Julie Kavner, John Leguizamo, Paul Reubens,, Garry Shandling
Director: Betty Thomas
Previews Shown: There's Something About Mary, Pleasantville, Ever After: A Cinderella Story
Alas, another movie has fallen victim to what I consider a major blunder, what I call the "Tipping Your Hand Too Much" principle. This happens when a movie shows all of it's best parts in the previews, to lure you into the theater, then fails to deliver upon expectations.
When I saw the trailer for Dr Dolittle, I laughed, quite hard, out loud. It showed great potential to be quite a funny movie, with the oppotunity for some very humorous situations. But when I sat in the theater and watched the movie, I can barely remember laughing out loud at all ( actually, for a me, a self-professed movie buff, the funniest scene was in a dog pound, and involved some other movie references). I did smile a few times though, so the movie wasn't a complete waste, but for the potential that existed, I was greatly disappointed.
Murphy sort of sleepwalks, and plays straight man to a veritable zooful of celebrity voices, the best of which were Chris Rock's hip, wisecracking hamster, and John Leguizamo and Reni Santori, as a couple of sarcastic rats (is there another kind). The rest, a who's who of comic talent, just aren't really given that much humorous dialog to work with.
The plot is basically non-existent, and I knew that it would be, what I expected was a sequence of humorous gags, scenes, situations, etc..held together by the loosest of plot lines. What I got, was, the loose plot line, for sure..but nothing else. The jokes fall flat, appealing maybe to a younger audience, the situations are wasted, and the only parts that were funny, lost their humor, because I'd already seen them several times in the trailer.
Overall, I was disappointed at the effort, and yet another wasted opportunity, my suggestion..wait for cable
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