Dr. Dolittle

Directed by Betty Thomas. With Eddie Murphy, Peter Boyle, Ossie Davis, Oliver Platt. A doctor discovers that he can communicate with animals.

Doctor Dolittle (1998) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.

"Doctor Dolittle" is a gross-out movie, yes, and it's going to be criticized by those who can't believe it got a PG-13 rating. Like Eddie Murphy's previous film, "The Nutty Professor," it has a lot of jokes about bodily functions. It breaks some new ground, with a scene where the Murphy character gives the kiss of life to a rat, and when a pigeon makes a low-level bombing run at Oliver Platt's nostrils. And of course there's the scene where the Murphy character, as a little boy, learns from his dog why dogs sniff each other's behinds, and then tries the same tactic in checking out the new school principal. Is this material a mistake? I don't think so. Kids have a healthy interest in bodily functions, and if you don't believe me, ask Captain Mike, who runs a kiddie playland in Sawyer, Mich., and gives away an amazing number of Whoopee Cushions as prizes. Too many adults have a tendency to confuse bad taste with evil influences; it's hard for them to see that the activities in "Doctor Dolittle," while rude and vulgar, are not violent or anti-social. The movie will not harm anyone, and in the audience I saw it with, lots of parents and kids seemed to be laughing together. The movie stars Murphy as John Dolittle, who as a child could talk to the animals (there's a gem of an opening scene in which he chats matter-of-factly with his dog, whose voice is by Ellen DeGeneres, about what dogs think about people). The boy grows out of this stage, however, and even goes through an animal-hating phase before he knocks his head in a car accident and regains his inner ear for animals. By now Murphy is grown up, a famous doctor whose partner (Platt) is in a lather to sell out their medical operation to an HMO. But Murphy gets seriously distracted by his new insights into animals, and on the night of a big business meeting, he's more interested in emergency treatment for an ailing tiger from the zoo. There's also trouble with his despairing family, which has him committed to a mental institution. Murphy is essentially the straight man in the movie; most of the laughs belong to the animals, who are brash and outspoken--especially Rocky the guinea pig, voiced by Chris Rock. Albert Brooks finds a nice, long-suffering note as the ailing tiger, and Reni Santoni and John Leguizamo have some nice zingers as the laboratory rats who are brought back to life by Dolittle's first aid: "You want gratitude? Get a hamster." Some of the animals are real. Most of them, even the real ones in some scenes, are creations of the Jim Henson muppet builders. All of them look real enough, and there's some nice physical humor in a scene where Rocky gets drenched, dries out under a blower, and then enjoys a quick massage. Murphy, I think, finds the right strategy in acting opposite this menagerie: He's mostly quiet, calm, not trying too hard for laughs; the overall tone of the movie, despite the gross material, is one of sweetness and gentleness. Sure, a lot of the stuff is in bad taste, but I'll never forget Mel Brooks' defense of one of his movies: "Vulgar? It rises below vulgarity."

Doctor Dolittle summary of box office results, charts and release information and related links.

Parents need to know that this crude but funny Eddie Murphy vehicle lifts the name and basic concept from Hugh Lofting's famous stories about a man who can "talk to the animals." An enormous amount of sophomoric humor -- innuendo, potty humor, iffy language -- involving the good doctor's animal patients is added to the mix. Because many of the jokes include toilet humor and crude references to the human body, parents may want to decide whether or not they feel comfortable with this type of content for younger kids, though those children will certainly be charmed by the animal characters. Older kids will enjoy the jokes, but parents may still wish to exercise discretion, due to the nature of the humor, which includes innuendo and some language ("ass," and one use of "s--t").

Betty Thomas directed this adaptation of the classic children's stories by Hugh Lofting (1886-1947), updating the original concepts into the present day. When noted surgeon Dr. John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) swerves his car to avoid hitting a dog, he hits his head on the windshield, triggering his long-dormant gift for holding conversations with animals. Friends, associates and his wife Lisa (Kristen Wilson), all express concern, but Dr. Dolittle is happy as he takes on new animal clients. Soon Dolittle's clinic becomes a haven for talking rats, birds, and other assorted members of the animal kingdom, and Dolittle's new four-legged and furry friends, in turn, teach him a few things about being human. The effects seamlessly combine Jim Henson Creature Shop animatronics, computer graphics, and real animals, but some viewers might yearn for a return of the Great Pink Sea Snail and Lofting's other imaginative creatures. The 1967 20th Century Fox musical Dr. Dolittle starred Rex Harrison in a strange storyline that began with Dolittle escaping from a lunatic asylum and leaving the Victorian village Puddleby-by-the-Marsh, England, to search the South Seas for the Great Pink Sea Snail. Along the way, he gathered diverse Dolittle denizens and animal anomalies, including the Giant Moon Moth and the famed, two-headed Pushmi-Pullyu. The earlier film spawned the Oscar-winning popular song success,

A successful physician and devoted family man, John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) seems to have the world by the tail, until a long suppressed talent he possessed as a child, the ability to communicate with animals is suddenly reawakened with a vengeance! Now every creature within squawking distance wants the good doctor's advice, unleashing an outrageous chain of events that turns his world upside down!

Dr. Dolittle is a 1998 American fantasy comedy film directed by Betty Thomas, written by Larry Levin and Nat Mauldin, and starring Eddie Murphy in the titular role. The film was inspired by the series of children's stories of the same name by Hugh Lofting, but used no material fr