By RUSSELL BAILLIE
(Herald rating: * * * )
Yes, he is funnier as the voice of the donkey in Shrek, but Eddie Murphy's second stint as a modern incarnation of the creature-communicator Dr Dolittle doesn't seem to have let the possibility of the novelty wearing off get in the way
of its high gag count or its four-legged cast members stealing the show.
It can sometimes feel like a pooper-scooper should be mandatory after many of its jokes. And in its most educational scene Murphy colourfully tells us just how bears don't do what bears are said to do in the woods during hibernation.
But it's silly, consistently giggly fun from the opening scene, which has the good doctor in group therapy with a bunch of strays ("Altogether now: I am somebody's best friend"), and throughout the story which has him playing counsellor to a circus bear in an effort to save a forest under threat from a nasty lumber magnate.
Dolittle must convince the pathetic, pampered Archie (voiced by Steve Zahn) to get it on with the wild gal Ava (Lisa Kudrow) because her endangered species status will help save the bush, but only if she breeds. So Dolittle offers lessons in love, male assertiveness, hunting and fishing all to bring the hapless Bruin up to scratch.
Meanwhile, the wood-cutting corporation is still scheming, the local fauna fast losing faith in Dolittle's ability to work a miracle on Archie's animal instincts, and the doctor is juggling his own problems at home with a teenage daughter who is hearing her own call of the wild.
Oh, and there are amusing sideshows galore: the pet chameleon who won't blend in; Buster the family dog's effort to get it on with a forest wolf ("She's a real fox"); the Godfather-like beaver and his racoon henchcreature which suggest a possible Sopranos-Discovery Channel crossover.
It might have its flat patches along the way but it's got enough story to differentiate it from its predecessor, and neatly ups the attitude-heavy anthropomorphism.
All of which means Dr Dolittle 2 might not be a particularly memorable addition to Murphy's comedy canon. But as talking animal films go, it's furry funny.
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Kyla Pratt, voices of Norm Macdonald, Lisa Kudrow, Steve Zahn and Molly Shannon
Director: Steve Carr
Running time: 88 mins
Rating: PG (coarse language)
Screening: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas
By RUSSELL BAILLIE
(Herald rating: * * * )
Yes, he is funnier as the voice of the donkey in Shrek, but Eddie Murphy's second stint as a modern incarnation of the creature-communicator Dr Dolittle doesn't seem to have let the possibility of the novelty wearing off get in the way
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