Time: 11:15am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Writers: Stephen Gaghan, Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, Chris McCay, Thomas Shepherd
Composer: Danny Elfman
Cast:
(humans)
Dr. John Dolittle- Robert Downey Jr.
Stubbins- Harry Collett
Lady Rose- Carmel Laniado
Queen Victoria- Jessie Buckley
Dr. Blair Müdfly- Michael Sheen
Lord Thomas Badgely- Jim Broadbent
King Rassouli- Antonio Banderas
(animals)
Polly the macaw- Emma Thompson
Chee-Chee the gorilla- Rami Malek
Yoshi the polar bear- John Cena
Plimpton the ostrich- Kumail Nanjiani
Dab-Dab the duck- Octavia Spencer
Jip the dog- Tom Holland
Kevin the squirrel- Craig Robinson
Barry the tiger- Ralph Fiennes
James the dragonfly- Jason Mantzoukas
The Dragon (yeah, there is a dragon)- Frances De La Tour
Duration: 101 minutes (+6 trailers)
Write-up:
Opening Comments
Ok, first of all... this movie has already gotten so much dumped on from critics... one in our local paper actually gave it 0 stars. Out of 4 stars, I might give it 2.5. It's not an Oscar-worthy movie, but I had fun with it. And it isn't just because RDJ is a part of it. It was just a fun fantastical movie and the cast of actors they had to voice the characters- they were all great. The visuals were dazzling. They pulled me in and after a certain point, the movie just ran by so fast that it was suddenly over.
It was a decent crowd in the theater. A lot of kids. And they were laughing along with the movie and a couple times were clapping. So it definitely won over the target audience in our theater. Robert and his wife, Susan, were saying in interviews that it was the first premiere they could take their kids to because it's appropriate for their age. Exton was born in 2012 and I think Avri was a year or so after that. But the fact kids have been enjoying this movie is a good sign. Heck, what they lose out on in theater sales, they might make up in DVD sales or streams.
Trailers
To the theater's credit, they didn't overdo it with commercials or trailers this time around. There were only 6 and they only ran for about 17 minutes.
Let's see...
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
I swear when they advertised this last, the whole story was about Peter meeting the Fierce Bad Rabbit. Now apparently it's about the animals leaving Mr. McGregor's place and a couple get kidnapped and they all need to get them back. I'm not a fan of what they did with this story I grew up with, but this movie looks a bit better than the original one did in the trailers.
I still believe
Not sure if whose life this was based on, but there's a musician who falls in love with a girl and she gets cancer and Shania Twain is in the cast... It looks really good, but maybe a tearjerker. Depending on whether it's another of those spiritual movies they typically release around Easter
Omg... I mean, they tried their best with this trailer, but considering this movie was delayed for a year because YouTube comments were freaking out about the fact Sonic's teeth were "too human"... this is already doomed before it hits theaters. The humor is too try-hard and over the top. And why is it when video game characters come into our world that the fate of the world is at stake? We've seriously run out of ideas.
In the Heights
I'm not quite sure what this movie is about, but it's a musical that takes place in a very colorful neighborhood. It has the same director as "Crazy Rich Asians" and Lin-Manuel Miranda (the guy behind "Hamilton") is involved too. But it looked pretty impressive.
Emma
Why do they feel compelled to make this movie again? Gwyneth Paltrow did it in the 1995. They did Clueless, a modern adaptation in 1995. There's no need to do this again. And none of the names in the cast are big names, so why even bother?
Trolls World Tour
I've seen this trailer so many times... I don't need to add anything...
The Main Event
First, the story... we have an animated flashbacks (really good drawings of the characters, by the way, very realistic) about the Dolittles and their back story. They went around the world saving animals from imprisonment and hardship. It ends with his wife dying in a shipwreck and he becomes a reclusive as a result of the devastation.
The boy, Stubbins, comes from a hunting family and when he misfires to avoid shooting ducks, he actually shoots a squirrel. Polly the parrot takes him to Dolittle's place and after much ado, he does get him treated and save his life. The same day he shows up, one of the royal attendants, Lady Rose, shows up at the estate, saying that the Queen (who had gifted the Dolittles with the estate in the first place) has fallen ill and needs his help.
So begins the voyage where Dolittle, Stubbins (who decides he wants to be his apprentice) and a bunch of his animal friends sail to find the antidote for her sickness. Oh, and there's the fact the Queen's illness falls under the category of suspicious and they have parts of the British royal entourage to deal with on the journey.
Anyone who had seen Robert as Sherlock Holmes will have a fair idea of how he's going to play this character: very eccentric and imaginative. And of course he does an accent on top of that. He was a guest star on Ellen where he said that Welsh is the hardest accent and she asked him "why do you do that to yourself?" He has a really good ear for accents, especially when Andrew Jack is his dialect coach, but he changed the accents for two roles (Natural Born Killers and Tropic Thunder) from Irish to Australian because he couldn't do an Irish accent.
The fact he'd been shut up in her since his wife died... yeah, it kinda makes sense that he let himself go a bit. And it's bizarre when you see him talking in animal speak before they transition to him and the animals speaking English so we can understand. It does start a little strange, but it does get better from there. The only other moments I didn't care for was when they opted for bathroom humor to get some cheap laughs. It's only a couple scenes, but it's like "did they REALLY have to go there?"
One of the biggest story arcs with the animals is Chee-Chee the gorilla. He's a bit of a coward, but in some pivotal moments, he finds his courage and it's a great moment when he does. Polly is the voice of reason, kinda the motherly figure in the group, so she's pretty great. The dynamic between Yoshi and Plimpton, it's a little strange, but it makes for some entertaining moments. A lot of the animals were used in creative ways. One involved a stick insect.
Kevin the Squirrel... even though Stubbins brought him to get treated, he's paranoid the whole movie that he hasn't finished with him. His commentary is pretty silly.
The fact Stubbins was learning how to talk to the animals... I'm not quite sure if I believe that. In the Eddie Murphy version, it was a gift he was born with. According to this version, you can learn it from books... unless those were books Dolittle wrote himself.
Michael Sheen play an interesting character. A little vain and neurotic. He and Dolittle went to school together, so he's jealous of his accomplishments and is excited at the opportunities to one-up him. But he does have some great comical moments too. He always plays a good baddie.
(There's also a post-credits scene of him-- right after all the portraits go on the wall and the main cast are listed-- so be sure to stick around for that. It's kinda funny)
Antonio Banderas rules one of the places they stop and he's Lily Dolittle's father, so there's a little tension involved with him, but also a lot of twists. The funny thing is that I didn't realize it was him until the credits. His voice is so iconic (omg, he's only Puss in Boots from Shrek), but he just looked so scruffy that he was unrecognizable.
It's a happy ending, that's all I'll really go into.
But overall, I'd have to say that it's the kind of movie where, if you suspend your disbelief and get lost in the visual effects and the characters... you'll have a good time.
Would I buy it on DVD? I don't know... I'd probably watch it a bunch of times on HBO whenever it gets there. Robert was tapped to do "Oz, The Great and Powerful," but I think he turned it down because he didn't get the freedom to improvise. This was a far better movie than that was. I pair them together, only because they favor visual effects more than a deep storyline.
It was definitely great to be back at the movies for another Downey flick. Something outside of the Marvel universe for a change. And honestly, I was so caught up in his characterization that I kinda saw the character more than him. When he does his best work, he really disappears into his characters.
It just kinda sucks that his movies are so few and far between. Once a year if I'm lucky... he's rumored to appear in the new Black Widow movie, which takes place in some other time period before Endgame. But I'm planning to see that just because they are finally doing a Black Widow movie after years of people begging for one. And of course Sherlock 3 will be next Christmas... after all the time waiting after Sherlock 2 (I hadn't seen that movie since I saw the DVD commentary with him... I didn't like it that much), it better be a good sequel. That's all I'll say on that.
For now... I'll give it...
Grade: B+
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