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| DOCTOR DOLITTLE (1997) - PG-13
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ReviewScore: 48 out of 100
SBD Star Rating:
by Lew Irwin
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The anamatronic and computer-generated animals in the remake of Dr. Dolittle are receiving high marks from most reviewers today. Eddie Murphy is not. "Murphy, at his most insipid, is easily upstaged by the menagerie," writes Stephen Hunter in The Washington Post, who also comments that "the story practically oinks." Kenneth Turan, the Los Angeles Times critic, dismisses the movie as "a complete waste of time and potential." Susan Wloszczyna in USA Today writes that "an ace clown like Murphy is forced to play second banana to a movie-hogging gimmick." Nearly all the critics take note of the fact that the movie is loaded with an "endless" number of butt, fart, and poop jokes. Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News says that the film offers "the biggest outpouring of toilet humor this side of Porky's." Rod Dreher in the New York Post warns parents, "We have here a children's movie whose idea of 'edgy' is the family pet offering to advise his owner on how to have sex doggy-style. Think about that." However, Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun Times writes, "Is this material a mistake? I don't think so. Kids have a healthy interest in bodily functions. ... Too many adults have a tendency to confuse bad taste with evil influences. ... The movie will not harm anyone, and in the audience I saw it with, lots of parents and kids seemed to be laughing together." Tom Maurstad in the Dallas Morning News calls the film "unflaggingly funny" and says that Murphy "turns in his funniest, warmest performance in years." And the New York Times' Janet Maslin, crediting Murphy's "ability to play the straight man with hilarious aplomb" and director Betty Thomas' "ability to turn kitsch ... into mischievous fun," calls Dolittle, "the sunniest family film so far this season." |
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