Doolittle (2020)

[The Glyphstone]

From Iron Man to Animal Man, apparently. It looks to be more inspired by the novel source material than Murphy's run on the character, but is that necessarily a good thing? Can Downey pull off action-comedy better than Murphy's slapstick?

[Peelee]

Downey's entire career was revitalized with crime-comedy, so maybe?

To be fair, though, it's very hard to not be amazing in a Shane Black movie. Which isn't any movie done by him, it's a specific genre.

[Lemmy]

It... Actually looks interesting. I wasn't expecting that.

That said "from the producer of 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Malevolent'" doesn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm... It makes me think it'll be another "meh" reboot of a famous franchise.

[DavidSh]

I read the books a very long time ago, before the family dog chewed them to pieces. Who do they have playing Gub-Gub?

[Khedrac]

From Iron Man to Animal Man, apparently. It looks to be more inspired by the novel source material than Murphy's run on the character, but is that necessarily a good thing? Can Downey pull off action-comedy better than Murphy's slapstick?

From the trailer they are at least paying a few nods in the direction of the source material (Hugh Lofting's books), but the novels are not comedy, so it's still only an "inspired by" rather than anything else.

I still think the original books are pretty good, and they might form an interesting basis for an RPG setting; however they are very dated now and need to be read as books of their time.

[Bartmanhomer]

Is it the same concept as Doctor Doolittle?

[JadedDM]

It's a January release. January and September are the dead months where studios dump movies that they have no faith in. That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, but it usually does (it could also mean the studio thinks its too niche or too cerebral or too artsy). But seeing as it stars RDJ, the fact that the studio doesn't believe it could compete during a good month suggests to me that it's probably pretty bad.

[Peelee]

It's a January release. January and September are the dead months where studios dump movies that they have no faith in. That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, but it usually does (it could also mean the studio thinks its too niche or too cerebral or too artsy). But seeing as it stars RDJ, the fact that the studio doesn't believe it could compete during a good month suggests to me that it's probably pretty bad.

September's not too bad. Better than March, really.

[JadedDM]

March is actually a decent month for films, because of spring break.

[Peelee]

March is actually a decent month for films, because of spring break.

Worked at a movie theater for five years. March is dead. College people go to Florida or Texas, high school kids are always try to sneak into R-rated movies anyway, and the younger lot are still reliant on their parents, who don't have a week off

[JadedDM]

I also worked in a movie theater for five years. But I'm not giving anecdotes from personal experience here. 'Dump months' are a well documented part of the movie industry, and March isn't one of them.

[Peelee]

I also worked in a movie theater for five years. But I'm not giving anecdotes from personal experience here. 'Dump months' are a well documented part of the movie industry, and March isn't one of them.

Wikipedia can say what it wants, that didn't make our Marches any less dead.

[Kitten Champion]

As someone only familiar with Doctor Dolittle through the Eddie Murphy movies it looks like a step up from that. Ya'know, for whatever that's worth.

The CGI's pretty blah, but I appreciate the brighter colour palette and whimsical fantasy vibe. I imagine it's something I'll watch on Netflix or whatever.

[Palanan]

Another treasured childhood memory destroyed by a Hollywood blockbuster treatment.

I grew up on these books, and Robert Downey is ridiculous in this role. The original Doctor Doolittle was a portly English gentleman, not yet another rugged action hero. The few lines of dialogue we heard from RDJ in this trailer are an embarrassment to the spirit of the original.

And sadly, I don’t see much whimsy here, just something that looks like a hodgepodge of elements from Narnia and Golden Compass. In other words, no real personality or identity of its own.

The only thing this trailer inspires me to do—apart from definitively not see this in the theater—is to try to find those books again, because I loved them deeply, and now I want to look through them again.

I especially liked the moon-cat, who probably won’t make an appearance in this movie, because traveling to the moon and meeting fantastic lunar creatures is altogether too whimsical for the modern blockbuster. Too whimsical, and too much real imagination, rather than just another CGI menagerie.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

This has nothing to do with launching bombers off an aircraft carrier like I expected when I clicked it :(

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by MarkVIIIMarc
This has nothing to do with launching bombers off an aircraft carrier like I expected when I clicked it….

Now that, I’d see in the theater. But we may have a long wait for that movie.

Until then, I recommend I Could Never Be So Lucky Again, if you haven’t read it already.

[Sholos]

Everyone talking about the Eddie Murphy movie makes me sad at the realization that it's better known than the Rex Harrison movie from 1967.

[Peelee]

Everyone talking about the Eddie Murphy movie makes me sad at the realization that it's better known than the Rex Harrison movie from 1967.

Any movie from 1998 is more likely to be better known that any movie from 1967, to be fair. Unless there's a good amount of retirees on these forums.

[Mr_Fixler]

Any movie from 1998 is more likely to be better known that any movie from 1967, to be fair. Unless there's a good amount of retirees on these forums.

I'm in my thirties but when I was little my sister and I watched the '67 version a bunch. "My friend the doctor" is a great opening song to set the tone similar to "the candyman can" from Charlie and the Chocolate factory. Also a fan of "I've never seen anything like it."

Being kids we would watch the opening act through the circus, fast forward the courtroom drama and resume somewhere around the shipwreck.

Fun movie... I would almost garuntee it still beats whatever this turns out to be.

[brionl]

This has nothing to do with launching bombers off an aircraft carrier like I expected when I clicked it :(

That would be General Doolittle.

[dps]

From the trailer they are at least paying a few nods in the direction of the source material (Hugh Lofting's books), but the novels are not comedy, so it's still only an "inspired by" rather than anything else.

To be honest, I don't see any indication from the trailer that this version is a comedy. Looks like that one bird might be the comic relief, but something that's a comedy doesn't need a comic relief character.

And as for the Rex Harrison vs Eddie Murphy versions, awareness of them is almost certainly a generational thing. But give it another 10-20 years, and the Harrison version will still be considered a classic, and the Murphy version, if not forgotten, will just be remember as one of a number of bad films Murphy wasted his talent on, many of them remakes of better movies.

[jayem]

To be honest, I don't see any indication from the trailer that this version is a comedy. Looks like that one bird might be the comic relief, but something that's a comedy doesn't need a comic relief character.

And as for the Rex Harrison vs Eddie Murphy versions, awareness of them is almost certainly a generational thing. But give it another 10-20 years, and the Harrison version will still be considered a classic, and the Murphy version, if not forgotten, will just be remember as one of a number of bad films Murphy wasted his talent on, many of them remakes of better movies.

You've never seen anything like it.

[Bartmanhomer]

To be honest, I don't see any indication from the trailer that this version is a comedy. Looks like that one bird might be the comic relief, but something that's a comedy doesn't need a comic relief character.

And as for the Rex Harrison vs Eddie Murphy versions, awareness of them is almost certainly a generational thing. But give it another 10-20 years, and the Harrison version will still be considered a classic, and the Murphy version, if not forgotten, will just be remember as one of a number of bad films Murphy wasted his talent on, many of them remakes of better movies.

Eddie Murphy was the bomb in Dr. Dolittle. I enjoy the movie.

[Ramza00]

Any movie from 1998 is more likely to be better known that any movie from 1967, to be fair. Unless there's a good amount of retirees on these forums.

The 1967 movie is cursed. Lindsay Ellis spent a few minutes explaining it being cursed in her video about the rise and decline of The Hollywood Musical.

[Bartmanhomer]

Hey, what's Dr John Doolittle alignment? Is he Neutral Good because I sense there's Neutral Good in him?

[Khedrac]

Hey, what's Dr John Doolittle alignment? Is he Neutral Good because I sense there's Neutral Good in him?

He's definitely good, since he regularly goes out of his way to help others.
The Law/Chaos axis is harder to define, and depends on your personal interpretation.
Some would argue for chaotic as he tends to ignore society's mores, but I would place him as lawful, because he follows his own rules of behaviour and is pretty predictable within them.
(Which might justify a classification of neutral.)

There are examples of his behaviour that break this pattern (such as running away from a "job" as a monarch) but no-one is completely consistent.

[Bartmanhomer]

He's definitely good, since he regularly goes out of his way to help others.
The Law/Chaos axis is harder to define, and depends on your personal interpretation.
Some would argue for chaotic as he tends to ignore society's mores, but I would place him as lawful, because he follows his own rules of behaviour and is pretty predictable within them.
(Which might justify a classification of neutral.)

There are examples of his behaviour that break this pattern (such as running away from a "job" as a monarch) but no-one is completely consistent.

Cool. Ok thank you.