Dolittle is a film about a man, Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and his amazing skill of being able to speak to animals. Dolittle’s wife passed away causing him to be depressed and isolating himself and his animals from the world. When Queen Victoria falls gravely ill, Dr. Dolittle and his animals must go on an adventure to find the cure. When their adventure begins a young boy, Tommy Stubins (Harry Collett), Dr. Dolittle will take him up as his apprentice and show him how to communicate with animals. Dr. Dolittle and Tommy must work together to save the Queen before it is too late.

Dolittle is a very mediocre film. Having a very talented cast, is what provided the “hype” for Dolittle. However, using this strategy caused the movie to be a let down for those who expected a quality film. The voice actors did an amazing job, however some of their most publicized celebrities only had a few lines including Selena Gomez and Tom Holland who were in the first twenty minutes and then wrote off till the very end. Downey Jr. did an amazing job portraying his character. Collett is very impressive in his role, especially for being such a young actor. The voice actors did a great job at bringing their characters to life. Dolittle’s plot is very predictable with foreshadowing so obvious, they should have just flashed a big foreshadowing sign. The main antagonist of the film motivation was very poor it was hard to watch. The secondary villain of the movie has a very confusing motivation due to poor writing which did not establish him very well. The CGI at times was very well done and at other times very poor. The score of this film was amazing. It helps immerse the audience into this motion picture. The film does take an interesting approach on giving the backstory of Dr. Dolittle. Unlike other films, they tell the backstory as a watercolor painting collection then go into the live action part of the story.

What was expected to be an amazing film, was a disappointment. Putting a really famous name on the poster can only do so much in a film with many issues. I do not believe that Dolittle is a bad movie, but definitely did not hit expectations. Many criticized Downey Jr.’s performance as Dr. Dolittle, but I felt it was a nice refreshing take on a character. Dolittle tries to send a message about being who you are, but it is done too cheesy to take the message seriously. This film is definitely a Redbox rental, instead of going to see it in the theaters. It is a great family movie, if your family has no other movie to watch on movie night. I recommend this film to people who enjoyed movies such as the live action Lion King and live action Lady and the Tramp. While this motion picture will not win any awards, it is a film that many can appreciate. I rate Dolittle a 3.0 out of 5 Film Reels.