FlashCallahan John Dolittle has a beautiful wife at his side, two adorable daughters and a career that could not go better. One night, he runs over a dog with his car. The dog yells at him and disappears. From then on, his ability is back, communicating with animals. Soon, animals flock to his place to get medical advice. But his colleagues suspect he's going mad, and as the clinic he works for is being taken over for a huge amount of money, many decisions have to be made.....Murphy had a career resurgence with The Nutty Professor, so this is pay dirt for him and the film makers to remake another beloved classic with a little bit of innuendo and the classic Murphy schtick, but make it a little more icky this time.And the results are really mixed.On the one hand, Murphy is his usual watchable self, and the animals are funny for a little while.The big problem is the script, animals can only be funny if they have something funny to say, and the majority of the time they don't, so we have to rely on silly accents or Chris Rock being over the top and shouting to give us chuckles, and it wears thin very soon.This also marks the point in Murphys career where he just went straight for family fodder, so I theory, its to blame for the non swearing Murphy we get now.For kids under eight, it'll be the funniest thing ever, for others, not so much...

gcd70 This re-make of the 1967 musical has dropped the singing numbers for visual trickery, as 1998's "Dr Dolittle" cashes in on the fact that we can now have animals "talk" (see "Babe").The special effects crew (along with Jim Henson's workshop) and Betty Thomas don't do anything astounding with what is really a dated concept, so the film is nothing special. Taken as a light romp or one for the kids this pic works reasonably well though.Eddie Murphy does it in his usual irrepressible style, and he's ably supported by an array of voices including Gary Shandling, Ving Rhames, Jean Stapleton and John Leguizamo. Oh, if you've seen the preview, you've seen the funniest parts.Wednesday, July 8, 1998 - Hoyts Myer Centre Brisbane

AleaClint What were you thinking? I'll admit the 1998 remake was entertaining, the way "Wings" is at one o'clock in the morning when nothing else is on, but, like "The Nutty Professor" Murphy's kid-friendly remake looks like a crime against cinema when placed next to its source material. First off, this is a musical with a beautiful score by Leslie Bricusse (who wrote the songs for "Willy Wonka" and "Stop the World, I Want To Get Off" with longtime partner Anthony Newley, who stars in this film). Also, Rex Harrison WORKED to learn to talk to animals. It wasn't a magical power he was born with, the man studied! He doesn't need cheesy (if well-cast) celebrity voiceovers and computer-generated mouth-movement to convince us, either. So if you want your kids to settle for second best and, as a result, drag you to mediocre kiddy-fair after mediocre kiddy-fair (which, in the age of "The Cat in the Hat" is pretty bad) let 'em have Eddie Murphy. But if you want your kids to have taste and appreciate a quality piece of film-making, rent this film immediately. Even if you have no kids, buy it, rent it, whatever.

Elswet While this is not an "awesome" movie, it IS entertaining and clean enough for the whole family. Eddie Murphy's declining career not withstanding, this is actually fun to watch. Although this work falls far from the Beverly Hills Cop tree, and does not quite match the quality of any of his pre-1995 films, it still holds some entertainment value, however mild it may be.It is a modernized version, of course, of Rex Harrison's 1967 classic, but without the charm, the sophistication, or the talent. Unfortunately, while this remake is fun, it is only mildly so, and really quite silly in a wholly unimaginative kind of way. Frankly, the best bit was Norm MacDonald's "Lucky" voice part. Eddie Murphy's best post-1995 roles have been voice parts, in my opinion (Donkey & Mushu).The young actresses who play Murphy's daughters are great in their own rights; Raven-Symone and Kyla Pratt, the latter of which continues on with this franchise long after the rest have bailed, creating a nice outlet for her own growing talents. Check them out.All in all, this is fun, if only mildly so, and totally silly. The kids will love it.It rates a 5.8/10 from...the Fiend :.