Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief

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.

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.

OK, my disclaimer here is that I've seen all the DoLittle movies now, because they're safe and my son loves animal movies and I figure there could be worse things to watch (like Garfield the movie, oh lord don't get me started...) And I actually didn't mind DoLittle 1. DoLittle 2 wasn't so great but at least it had Eddie Murphy in it, and the man knows funny. OK wasn't his funniest movie by a long shot, but at least he's animated. By DoLittle 3 I was pretty tired of the franchise and I think it definitely lost a big something with Murphy's departure. Everyone says how 'cute' Kyra/ Maya (?is that her name) is but I just find her yawn yawn yawn. Well, it still wasn't the worst thing to have to watch. Guess what was? Yep, DoLittle 4. Finally hit the almost bottom of the barrel (ok that's reserved for Garfield the movie - and before you tell me Garfield 2 the movie is worse, I DON'T want to know - have hidden the DVD in the cupboard and am hoping the 6 yr old doesn't remember we haven't seen it yet and start asking questions)

So I suppose I should review this movie huh, after all that preamble? Well my 6 yr old laughed at the monkey, and he was right - the monkey had the best scenes in the movie (and even he was under par this time). And I guess Mr. 6 laughed at a few other of the animal scenes too, so at least one of us was happy. But I found the animals in this movie painful (especially the wallaby, and Lucky the dog was particularly subpar this time). Anyway let's face it, Mr. 6 is at that age of no discerning taste in movies whatsoever.

So Maya has come to the end of high school and wants to go to college to a vet school that has her Dad's name and endowment, but has been getting crappy grades and the review panel is unimpressed - they put her on a waiting list. Already by this point I'm annoyed by the sheer laziness of the writer/ director -no explanation for why she no longer has a sister, or why the very promising boyfriend she had at the end of the last movie is no longer on the scene, or why her Dad no longer lives with them (ok he's 'off in Antarctica' this time but there was no explanation for why he was no longer around in the previous film in which Mommy was flirting with Maya's boyfriend's Dad, so clearly they are actually no longer together - why not just say so??), or why the college doesn't just accept her because ?hello?! SHE CAN TALK TO ANIMALS - who needs good grades when you have that advantage over, um, every single other person in the world (except for Daddy). And who needs good grades when your Dad OWNS the school?!? Whatever, movies can be implausible right? Suspension of belief right? OK sure, if there is a theme/ point to it. But this movie requires you to constantly ignore gaping plot holes and inconsistencies for no reason other than the writers' laziness. Everything about this movie just felt so incredibly cheap and lazy.

Moving on...

Maya needs to show the school she's got the goods, and luckily enough who happens to swing by needing some help but the President's staff, hoping Daddy can cure the First Dog who has gone rogue. As Daddy is AWOL, Maya fits the bill for the job, and is whisked away to the white house without so much as a security check to meet the President and go camping with him and his daughter for the week to work on the dog. Maya isn't at all phased about meeting the President, it's like she's greeting her taxi driver.

Now, I want to know, what's up with every adult character in this franchise after DoLittle 2 being a single parent? Ms DoLittle, the Dad in the last movie, and now the President (no explanation ever given). Not that I have any problem with it, I just find it weird... Anyway so they all go to the ranch, which is actually an animal conservation ranch as the President is a knowledgeable conservationist (convenient plot device!). There's some ridiculous story about saving a forest and a bunch of animals, which is not only ill-explained but also a bit of a lazy rehash of the DoLittle 2 plot. The First Dog story is also pathetic, lazy and dealt with in clichés. The 'romance' isn't a romance at all and similarly dealt with in a pathetic way - despite the cute boy seeming to have no romantic interest in Maya, his girlfriend is absurdly rude to Maya right off the bat for no reason whatsoever other than a silly attempt to provide an atmosphere of drama.... As if in the professional environment of the Presidency a staffer could get away with being outright hostile to the President's latest favourite go-to girl? And then all of a sudden she realises her mistake and that Maya is actually cool and they are all friends. No explanation for this sudden and clunky change of heart.

Oh god why am I writing this essay?? I was clearly damaged by the experience of having to sit through this movie. I won't continue.

2 words: excruciating and lazy

(But I guess at least it's 'safe' viewing for kids if that's what you're looking for - no swearing or inappropriate sexual references at all. And at least it's not Garfield!).

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'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.