Dr. Dolittle (1998 film)

Plot

In 1968, five-year-old John Dolittle can hear what animals say, starting with his own dog. After asking the dog why dogs sniff each other's butts, he imitates the behavior when meeting his new principal. His father Archer, concerned, hires a priest to perform an exorcism; the dog attacks the priest, and Archer sends the dog away. John eventually stops talking to animals and forgets he can.

Thirty years later in 1998, John is a surgeon in San Francisco, married to Lisa, with daughters Charisse and Maya. Maya has a guinea pig named Rodney and a swan egg she hopes will hatch. A medical company owned by Mr. Calloway wants to buy John's practice; colleague Mark Weller is enthusiastic, while Gene Reiss is skeptical. John's family goes on vacation, but he returns to work.

He nearly hits a dog with his SUV, and the dog scolds him. Rodney then talks to John, making him think he is having a breakdown. After helping a hurt owl, animals start asking for favors. He adopts the dog, naming him Lucky, and secretly helps a suicidal circus tiger named Jake with vision problems and headaches.

John confides to Lucky and Mark that he has not felt excited about his work in years. Lisa and Mark catch him performing CPR on a rat and have him sent to a mental hospital.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the 1998 film arrived on June 16, 1998, via Atlantic Records, mixing hip-hop with contemporary R&B. It climbed to number 4 on both the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, earning a 2x Multi-Platinum certification by October 20 of that year. AllMusic gave it four out of five stars. The sole single to chart, Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?," peaked at 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. The album's samples include "Pack'd My Bags" by Chaka Khan and Tony Maiden, "If Ever I Fall" by The Winans, and an interpolation of "8th Wonder."

Reception

On its opening weekend, Dr. Dolittle earned $29,014,324 across 2,777 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking number 1 at the box office. It achieved the biggest opening weekend for an Eddie Murphy film, surpassing The Nutty Professor, a record later beaten by Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. The film grossed $144,156,605 domestically and $150,300,000 internationally, totaling $294,456,605 worldwide. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 43% approval rating from 53 critics, with an average rating of 5.2/10; the critics consensus notes the film finds mirth in wisecracking critters but is undermined by scatological gags.

Metacritic gives a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, indicating mixed or average reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave it an A−. Leonard Klady of Variety called it slim on story and rife with scatological jokes. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times dismissed it as a complete waste of time and potential.

Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club wrote that Murphy makes an engaging straight man, and the film is an amusing, lightweight diversion. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4, stating the rude and vulgar activities are not violent or anti-social and will not harm anyone.