Dr. Dolittle 2

Dr. Dolittle 2
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Steve Carr
Produced by	John Davis
Written by	Hugh Lofting Larry Levin
Narrated by	Norm Macdonald
Starring	Eddie Murphy Raven-Symoné
Music by	David Newman
Cinematography	Daryn Okada
Editing by	Craig Herring
Studio	Davis Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	June 22, 2001 (2001-06-22)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70[1]-72[2] million
Box office	$176,104,344[1]

Dr. Dolittle 2 is a 2001 American comedy film, and the theatrical sequel to the 1998 film Dr. Dolittle. The continuing tale of the doctor who can talk to the animals—this time, it's Dolittle versus Darwin when the animals launch a labor strike to protect their forest from unscrupulous human developers. Dolittle quickly comes up with a plan: populate the forest with a species of animal that the law protects. He finds a perfect candidate when he comes across Ava (Lisa Kudrow), a lone Pacific Western bear living in the condemned forest. To provide her with a mate, Dolittle turns to Archie (Steve Zahn), a wise-cracking, fast-food loving, circus performing bear.

This film features a cameo appearance by the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin.

Plot

The movie starts out with Lucky the Dog (voiced by Norm Macdonald) explaining John Dolittle's (Eddie Murphy) gift of talking to animals. John, who holds a great reputation, comes home from France and gives his wife a present from Paris while he was on talk shows and other things about his gift. He also gives his daughter, Maya (Kyla Pratt), a chameleon, named Pepito, from Mexico.

Also, Charisse's (Raven-Symone) sixteenth birthday is coming today, and John is angry because she decided to go out on a date when she was supposed to spend it at her house. She was also not doing well in her classes. As a punishment, her father takes her phone away. Later on, Charisse's boyfriend, Eric (Lil' Zane), comes over and decides to join the family at the birthday party. However, a possum (voice of Isaac Hayes) and a racoon, Joey (voice of Michael Rapaport), tell the doctor that their boss, the Godbeaver, wants to see him. Reluctant, John decides to do so.

Afterwards, John and Charisse have a conversation, and John promises to bring the whole family to Europe before heading to the woods the following day.

He meets the Godbeaver (voice of Richard C. Sarafian) who shows him that the forest is being cut down. John plans to save the forest to get an endangered female Pacific Western bear together with a male to save their species though that is only if the male stays away from campsites and stores, though he only has one month to do it.

At a circus, John attempts to get Archie, the surviving male member in his species, to go out into the forest to teach him to become a real bear and mate with the lone potential Pacific Western bear female, Ava. Reluctantly, he agrees but John knows that Archie, being separated from his mother when he was a cub, doesn't know what kind of bear he is and never acts as a real animal. Then, after taking his family on a vacation to the forest for the rest of the month, John makes a deal with Ava to not make any decisions for the month and promised to turn Archie into someone she will love to provide, hunt and protect for her when she has cubs, though she is already involved with someone else.

While he unsuccessfully trains Archie, John hires the local forest creatures to make an attempt to stop Charisse and Eric from making out. John then teaches Archie and Lucky to be the strongest males in their species, though the training goes to trouble when John accidentally scolds Lisa and then, unwittingly ignores her for the next few days. Then, John tells Archie that he will find a way win Ava's heart, despite Archie's doubts of facing Ava's Kodiak Bear boyfriend, Sonny.

Then, every animal in the forest watches as John dances with Lisa, and as the two attempt to embrace, Lucky accidentally blows it, making John angrily getting the animals away from the cabin and Lisa dumps him by making him sleep on the couch, much to his chagrin. Then, Archie attempts to get Ava's attention by singing her a song while imitating John in a smooth voice and on a tree branch, but blows his attempt when he is too heavy for the branch to hold and he falls down, humiliating himself.

Archie then refused to come out of his new-found cave because of humiliating himself in front of Ava and John attempts to get him out by calling him a coward. Archie proclaims that it was hard but John knows how hard it is when his wife grows mad at him, Charisse growing mad at him too and spending his family vacation with a pizza delivery boy. Frustrated with John's insults, Archie hits John, making him fall on a muddy hole. Archie then begins to listen to his "inner bear". Later on, he spends the rest of the day with Ava, whose relationship with Sonny isn't very well.

Then, Lucky then attempts to win the affection of an attractive female wolf (though throughout the film, Lucky attempts to get her attention two times but both are unsuccessful). This attempt was successful as Lucky urinates around her territory and she is about to go out with him but one of her packmates came and finds Lucky urinating part of the pack's territory and they leave, much to Lucky's dismay. On the other hand, Ava is forced to leave Archie by Sonny (voice of Mike Epps).

Afterwards, Mr. Potter, the owner of two logging companies, attempts to make a deal with John, and when Archie arrives, he tells John he has his "big finish", knowing that he will win Ava about John telling him to listen to his "inner bear". Back at the cabin, Charisse is beginning to hate living in the forest and is annoyed with her family talking to the animals, though John doesn't know what is bothering her. Meanwhile, Archie goes after a bee hive on a fallen tree at the edge of a tall hill, and despite commands from John and attacking bees, he manages to get the hive.

Later, in a game of hide and seek with Ava (who dumps Sonny), Archie is shot by a tranquilizer dart fired by Mr. Potter's apprentice. John later learns that Archie had somewhat destroyed the back of a restaurant in the woods. After getting information from a weasel (voice of Andy Dick) of what happened, John visits Archie in a jail and tells the bear that he may be too dangerous to be set free and is going to be sold to a Mexican circus. Then, John realizes that Charisse has developed her father's gift of talking to animals, though it has been in her for two weeks now. Later, John held a meeting for every animal in the forest to not give up without a fight no matter what kind of animal expression they have. Everyone agrees to do it in order to free Archie. The animals, led by Charisse, Eric, and Maya, rebel against the loggers and every animal around the world go on strikes as an effort to free Archie.

Mr. Potter and his apprentice are then attacked by some of the animals at the company, such as a swarm of rats, a fleet of pigeons, a pack of wolves and Mr. Potter's apprentice is then attacked by the swarm of bees outside the building, while Mr. Potter is cornered by Ava and Joey. Then, when the animals refused to have twelve acres in their home, the strike kept growing. As a deal is made, the Dolittles and the animals have saved the entire forest outside of San Francisco.

At the end, John and Charisse become closer while Archie and Ava mate and have cubs.

Cast

Actor	Role
Eddie Murphy	Dr. John Dolittle
Raven-Symoné	Charisse Dolittle
Jeffrey Jones	Joe Potter
Kevin Pollak	Riley
Kristen Wilson	Lisa Doolitle
Kyla Pratt	Maya Doolittle
Lil Zane	Eric (Charisse's Boyfriend)
Lawrence Pressman	Governor of California (uncredited)
Steve Irwin	Cameo Appearance Himself

Animal Voice Cast

Actor	Role	Animal
Steve Zahn	Archie	Bear
Norm Macdonald	Lucky (uncredited)	Dog
Lisa Kudrow	Ava	Bear
Mike Epps	Sonny (as Michael J. Epps)	Kodiak Bear
Jacob Vargas	Pepito	Chameleon
Michael Rapaport	Joey	Raccoon
Phil Proctor	Drunk Monkey	Monkey
Isaac Hayes	Possum	Opossum
Andy Dick	Mr. "Lennie" Weasel	Weasel
John Witherspoon	Old Prison Bear	Bear
Cedric the Entertainer	Young Prison Bear	Bear
Jamie Kennedy	Dog #1	Dog
David Cross	Dog #2	Dog
Bob Odenkirk	Dog #3	Dog
David DeLuise	Fish #1	Fish
Hal Sparks	Fish #2	Fish
Reni Santoni Cheech Marin (considered)	Rat #1	Rat
John Leguizamo	Rat #2 (uncredited)	Rat
Arnold Schwarzenegger	White Wolf (uncredited)	Wolf
Kevin Pollak	Alligator	Alligator
Mandy Moore	Girl Bear Cub	Bear
Frankie Muniz	Boy Bear Cub	Bear
Michael McKean	Bird #1	Bird
David L. Lander	Bird #2	Bird
Mandy Moore	Girl Bear Cub	Bear
Tom Kenny	Male Tortoise	Tortoise
Renée Taylor	Female Tortoise	Tortoise
Richard C. Sarafian	God Beaver	Beaver
Keone Young	Flying Bee	Bee
Clyde Kusatsu	Bee	Bee
Tara Mercurio	Deer	Deer

Animal Actors

Actor	Role
Bart the Bear	Archie
Little Bart the Bear	Boy Bear Cub
Honey-Bump Bear	Girl Bear Cub

Reception

Dr Dolittle 2 has received mixed reviews. The movie has a 43% "Rotten" rating from Rotten Tomatoes and a 45% "Rotten'" rating from "Top Critics".

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $25,037,039 million in 3,049 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 at the box office, behind The Fast and the Furious, was the best debut for an Fox film that week. By the end of its run, Dr. Dolittle 2 grossed $112,952,899 domestically and $63,151,445 internationally, totaling $176,104,344 worldwide.^[3]

Soundtrack

Main article: Dr. Dolittle 2 (soundtrack)

A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on June 5, 2001 by J Records. It peaked at 76 on the Billboard 200 and 26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=drdolittle2.htm
2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240462/business
3. ^ "Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=drdolittle2.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-27. 

External links

• Dr. Dolittle 2 at the Internet Movie Database
• Dr. Dolittle 2 at AllRovi
• Dr. Dolittle 2 at Box Office Mojo