Dolittle review – Robert Downey Jr’s middling talking-animals pantomime
The Avengers star opts for a dodgy Welsh accent in an uninspiring if not entirely unwatchable new take on the animal-friendly doctor
Every imaginable indicator suggested that Dolittle, the umpteenth attempt to bring Hugh Lofting’s animal-obsessed doctor to the screen, would be a howling disaster. Putting aside the sheer redundancy of yet another retelling, it’s a film shot two years ago that test audiences hated, leading to reshoots the year after (with the help of a second director). That resulted in two release dates being missed, leaving us with an ominous January bow here in the US, a month typically associated with movies that closely resemble pungent dumpster fires.
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