DOLITTLE
***
Dir: Stephen Gaghan (PG, 106 mins)
Here’s a reboot no one ever wanted. After the initial dreadful Doctor Dolittle starring Rex Harrison back in 1967, and then the mildly diverting Eddie Murphy vehicles for the family-friendly funnyman of the late-90s and early-00s, the man who could talk to the animals, created by Hugh Lofting, was surely in no need of another cinematic excursion. They’d reckoned without a post-Iron Man Robert Downey Jr., however, and his allegedly “Welsh” accent. Now taking on board more of the soulless CGI of The Lion King, Dolittle arrives with its menagerie of animals voiced by the likes of Emma Thompson’s parrot, Ralph Fiennes’ moody tiger and Rami Malek’s anxious gorilla, to name but a few. Jessie Buckley crops up as Queen Victoria who has fallen ill and the reclusive Dolittle, still mourning the loss of his wife, is sent to look for a cure on a mythical island with his animals as company. With the talent involved and Syriana director Gaghan at the helm, this could be a family friendly crowdpleaser. But that Welsh accent, Robert…
Opens Feb 7
[wpdevart_youtube]zjm6rDgKNMY[/wpdevart_youtube]