DR. DOLITTLE 2

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: crude humor, sexual references

Rated:

With the first Dr. Dolittle a big hit at our house, I wasn't quite certain what to expect from the sequel, but it turns out it's a lot less funny and a little more politically correct than its highly successful predecessor. It's not bad by any means but does rely somewhat on crude humor and overly sentimental liberal opinions in order to make its point.

It's been several years since John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) discovered her can speak with animals, and since then he has become world renowned as a specialist in diagnosing and assisting animals in solving their medical and emotional problems. Whether it is teaching two sea turtles to love one another again or asking the family dog to let him in the house after he's misplaced his keys again, John is hot stuff in the press. His face is plastered all over magazine covers, and he has been abroad so often that his wife (Kristen Wilson) has almost forgotten what he looks like. Returning after one long trip overseas, John discovers that a lot has changed in his absence. For one thing, his eldest daughter Charisse (Raven) has started dating and is beginning to rebel against parental authority. You know it's bad when her mother has to send her a text message rather than knock on her bedroom door to inform her when dinner is on the table.

While John attempts to maintain authority in his household, he is approached by a local Beaver who wants him to figure out a way to prevent the logging companies from destroying the local forest. The only means of doing that is to see to it that a local bear is found a mate of her own kind, in order to produce cubs that would necessitate the wood being turned into a protected habitat for an endangered species. The only other bear of her kind lives in captivity and is willing to give it a shot, but he's a circus performer and not about to impress the local wildlife, so John must work to transform him into a "wild" bear before his deadline.

There is some humor to be found in this film, but the underlining message that all lumber companies are intent on destroying natural wildlife is offensive. The CEO's of these companies are your typical stereotyped trigger-happy money-grubbing Republicans with walls covered in stuffed animal heads and an attitude that anyone can be bought off with money. That kind of sours the entire experience, and plants erroneous ideas in youngsters heads. Why is selective logging never depicted in these films? Because that is what a number of lumber companies do, in order to preserve and protect the forests. If you leave forests to become overgrown and overly crowded, mother nature often burns them completely to the ground in order to start again. Apart from that, however, the film is not overly offensive but does rely a little too heavily on bathroom humor and innuendo.

John gets shut in a public toilet with the bear, which suddenly "needs to go." The implications are that the result was nasty. His dog, in the meanwhile, tries to flirt up a wolf but is undercut by her mate, whose urine is used to mark over the dog's territory. The sexual practices of animals are discussed a handful of times. An early shot has John encouraging a turtle to mount his mate; later on, he tries to give the bears tips on romance, and dialogue revolves around their encounters. John and his wife get cuddly only to find they are being observed by all the woodland creatures. Birds bombard the bad guys with feces.

There is a touching scene of reconciliation between John and Charisse that almost makes it worth it, in which she confides why she has been pulling away from her parents so much, and John realizes that his fame has caused him to become something of an absentee father. It's not a bad film but the political agenda depicted in it was rather tiresome and the script was lean on good laughs. Still, it's a lot better than most of the stuff aimed at kids these days, so for discerning parents it may be worth a watch.