Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief

8 October 2016. There is nothing particularly great but at the same nothing particularly bad in this animal talking live action movie. The lead character seems to be a little on the dense side at times. The pacing of the movie seems to slow down too much in places. What's interesting is the performances and acting of the Presidential detail outside the immediate advisors that add to the authenticity of the movie which is usually loosely handled in other movies. One of the lead character's pets actions seems rather oddly portrayed in the movie. Overall this movie had a comprehendible storyline, an environmental focus, and decent if not superlative acting. There's even a Presidential lesson to be learned by young people who watch.

I'm absolutely hypnotized by the stories that stories make. I often think of stories having their own agency, doing whatever they need to do to survive. That can take one of two paths I think.

The first is the path I normally pay attention to. A story can coax and guide it's tellers and receivers toward paths that matter, that penetrate and dissolve bits of us. These matter, and it's not just interesting to look at what they are and why they affect us, but also how they became so.

And then you have other path, which you could consider the quantity over quality model, where a story evolves so that it can simply be repeated. These reflect rather than make worlds and they thrive on a parasitic energy from other stories. I think that is what we have here.

The Dolittle story in it's basic form has been around for eons I suppose. In films I first encountered it as something which could carry some simple endearments spiced with enough humor to entertain. But that form has no juice today.

So it evolved, attracting Murphy and support to become something more colorfully funny, adapting a raunchy persona. But the fertility fades on that as well.

Now I suppose that there is a branch of evolution for all stories where they end up a Saturday afternoon kids babysitting material. And I suppose that this story already was headed in that direction. But the specific form is interesting at least. It has moved to the "black" theme part of the story ecosphere.

It's a comfortable, secure niche that guarantees longevity and repetition because it links to an audience that uses such stories to define self.

The story form has these elements: the focus is on women and how they make the world right. In every case, there is an environment in which men live and which has a dysfunctional dynamic, needing the common sense of women, common sense that is deeper in the African American woman than anywhere.

The chief character is always the same. Here she has poor grades and a focus on "social skills." she seems inept at first, but her pluck allows a situation in which she can apply her "emotional intelligence" to the problem. It invariably is the result of some family dynamic which incidentally explains deficiencies in our heroine.

She does her stuff and the world is made right, to the befuddled who lack this gift. In this case, it is the president that needs help, and by implication the soul of Africa (literally) that needs to be saved.

An interesting thing here is that the story includes multiple references to endangered species and preserved ecostructure in the context of personal (meaning in this sense, animal) personal inadequacies

Survival folded into survival.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

If there's one good thing that can be said about this movie it's that at least Kyla Pratt is dedicated to the character of Maya Dolittle. She debuted as the nerdy animal girl in the first Dr. Dolittle film when she was 12 years old, and ten years later here she still is, playing the character. That is dedication to your craft, and I can respect that.

That being said, this is an awful film. Pratt is actually one of the better actors in this whole lackluster borefest and even she isn't great, merely slightly above average. Though I mostly blame poor writing. None of the jokes are funny, the conflict is laughably out there - and not in a good way - most of the characters have no motivations, backstories or even characteristics. All the animals especially are just bad, being either stereotypical, rude, full of lowbrow humour or all of those at once.

The plot is one of those B-movie comedy plots mainly written to give room for all those wacky characters to spout wacky dialogue and to get into wacky situations. But, as already established, both the dialogues as well as the characters are poorly written and the plot itself is the poorest of them all. One of those three can be poor, and the two might be able to pick up the slack, so you can only imagine what happens when they all fail.

Still, there's really nothing actively harmful in this film. You can see that at least some of the actors believe in their roles and it has a good, if a bit clichéd, message it tries to convey. I guess that if you honestly have nothing else to do, this will pass the time, but I wouldn't recommend it. Kyla Pratt sure is cute, though.

I sat down to watch the 2008 movie "Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief" immediately after having just watched the 2006 movie "Dr. Dolittle 3". However, I have to say that this movie from writers Matt Liebermann and Kathleen Laccinole just wasn't really as good as the predecessor.

Sure, "Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief" was watchable for what it turned out to be, but director Craig Shapiro just didn't really manage to turn the script into something as wholesome as the previous movie. Don't get me wrong here, because "Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief" was still a watchable movie, but it just lacked that particular something to make it outstanding.

The problem for me here, was the script, as I found it to be somewhat restrictive. The writers didn't really take the storyline and the potential and let it go to its full potential. So the narrative in "Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief" felt somewhat on a leash, pardon the pun.

It was good, though, to have cast members from the previous movie return to this fourth movie in the franchise and reprise their roles and voices for the animals. That definitely added something to the movie. The acting performances in the movie were good.

My rating of "Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief" lands on a four out of ten stars.

While this isn't Oscar-worthy, and it will never be nominated for Video of the Year, Kyla Pratt doesn't fail to entertain, in spite of a lax plot so full of holes, it's nearly nonexistent. The dialog is the worst kind of cheese, and the whole execution is completely idiotic. However, the premise is rather cute and amusing, and Kyla Pratt is cute and amusing DOING it. Although suspension of belief is nearly impossible when faced with the horrible dialog and implausible plot elements, contrived story devices, and horrible production quality...and in the face of all that, somehow I don't hate it. That's mainly because of the "cuteness" factor and Kyla Pratt's growing abilities as an actress in spite of the horrible parts she has been shoe-horned into. I liked it...oddly enough.

It rates a 4.2/10 on the Str82Video Scale.

It rates a 3.6/10 on the Movie Scale from...

the Fiend :.