Dr. Dolittle 2

When you look at it, “Dr. Dolittle 2,” released in 2001, is more entertaining than the first movie thanks to funnier animals and a great performance from Eddie Murphy. The first movie was about the appearance of a childhood talent to speak to the animals, but the sequel can turn its attention to a more basic story. That’s not to say that “Dr. Dolittle 2” has any great or original script. Andrew Manning said in his review, “Indeed, it's a typical sitcom standard where the Bradys or the Keatons or any other 30-minute American family has to save their favorite natural habitat from evil construction workers.” However, with this ordinary story is more suitable of a family film than 90 minutes of Dr. Dolittle discovering his innate ability. Instead of talking about a completely pointless story of why he can talk to the animals, we instead take his gift for granted and continue with everything.

When the local woods are threatened by land developers, the animals ask for help from Dr. Dolittle. Manning said, “To these ends, a group of animals comically organized like an Italian crime family send Joey the Raccoon (one of the funniest characters in the movie by far, voiced by Michael Rapaport) to get the good doctor. Dolittle reluctantly gets involved, and Joey takes him back to the woods to meet "The Godbeaver."” Together, they make a plan to save the forest. If Dolittle can get two rare Pacific Western bears to get together, then the forest will be called a home for endangered animals and cannot be trespass by the developers (Jeffrey Jones and Kevin Pollak).

Manning said, “Dolittle finds two such potential throwrugs: a circus performing bear named Archie and a forest dwelling she-bear named Ava. The problem is that Ava wants a "real man" who can provide for her, not a creampuff city bear like Archie.” For the entire movie, Dr. Dolittle and Archie make a plan to get Ava to fall in love with Archie.

Dr. Dolittle 2’s greatest strength is its cast of supporting animals. Michael Rapaport’s Joey the Raccoon, a drunken French monkey who can’t stop drinking (Phil Proctor), and a delusional chameleon named Pepito (Jacob Vargas) are the best. So many celebrities have cameo voices all throughout the film: Kevin Pollak, Isaac Hayes, Andy Dick, Joey Lauren Adams, Michael McKean, Cedric the Entertainer, Molly Shannon, John Witherspoon, Mandy Moore, Frankie Muniz (who you might remember from “Malcolm in the Middle”), and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, who parodies himself so well that it sounds like an impressionist is mimicking the Terminator.

Ironically, the three animals stars who get the most screen time are the ones who are the least interesting. Archie and Ava, voiced by Steve Zahn and Lisa Kudrow respectively, are a fairly boring bear couple. (Manning said, “Do any Friends and Mad About You fans out there agree with me that Kudrow's bear should have appropriately been named Ursula?”) Also Norm MacDonald, who returns as the voice of Dolittle’s pet dog Lucky, brings nothing but weak jokes mostly involving animalistic habits of creating space. Which leads into another serious problem in “Dr. Dolittle 2” – this movie has a fascination with bathroom humor. Manning said, “There is an unhealthy number of scenes involving spraying animals, something I don't find particularly interesting.”

Another story of “Dr. Dolittle 2” is the teen melodrama where Dr. Dolittle’s oldest daughter (Raven-Symoné), who has the usual boatload of adolescent problems, like falling in love (Lil Zane). Trying really hard to separate from her parents, she resentfully finds out she is more like her father than she would like to admit. Again, the story feels like it’s taken from a family sitcom, but so is pretty much the rest of the movie. At least everything is kept in context.

Kristen Wilson and Kyla Pratt are also back in here and it’s great to see the family together, even though this will be the last time we’ll see them together. Also, the late James Avery (who you’ll remember as Uncle Phil from “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and the voice of Shredder in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) makes a brief cameo in here as Lil Zane’s dad.

I had seen parts of this movie as a teen, but it wasn’t until a few years back that I finally decided to watch the entire movie and I absolutely loved it. It was funny, entertaining, and I thought it was a good sequel. If you liked the first one, give this movie a watch and don’t hate on it like all the other critics have been doing.

Like I already mentioned, this is the last movie that has Eddie Murphy and Raven-Symoné. The remaining sequels will focus on Kyla Pratt’s character. If you want to know how they turned out, stay tuned next week in the continuation of “Dr. Dolittle Month” to find out.