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Waste of time

Good movie but grossly overrated

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I can't be as kind as many of the other commenters. I didn't see it when it first came out, although, I was inundated with the "Talk With the Animals" song everywhere I turned. Seems like we even played it in our junior high band.I was under the impression that this was the most heralded musical in history with regard to the hype surrounding it. It was only recently that I realized that it was panned by the critics.I finally watched it on Turner Movie Classics and realized what a "snoozer" it was. I kept thinking there might be some romance between someone in the film - Samantha Eggar and Rex Harrison... Samantha Eggar and Anthony Newley... Samantha Eggar and Geoffery Holder... Samantha Eggar and the Push-Me-Pull-You... Anthony Newley and Geoffery Holder... anything that would give this story a little life.Rex Harrison is a great actor and carried this exhausting effort as bravely and heartily as he possibly could, however, in the end, it was a pointless story that dragged on and on and on."Talk to the Animals" was a reasonably good song for a musical, however, the rest of the songs rated "banal" in my estimation. Even Anthony Newly couldn't seem to pull it out of the fire with his pleasant voice and apt song styling.It seems that the only thing that might have held children (since it was a family movie) would have been the animals, which weren't really used all that dramatically.As much as I admire the actors who performed in this insipid tale, I have to say, it barely held my interest. My apologies to those who truly loved this movie.

Back in 1967, ''Doctor Dolittle'' was intended as the BIG ONE from Twentieth Century-Fox. Thanks,in no small part to it's huge budget, it received much more than it's share of publicity, both pro and con. Long before it was released, a major merchandising campaign began, much like those used by the Disney Studio. Countless singles and albums were released with everyone from Barbra Streisand to Bobby Darin putting their own talents to work on the songs. Elaborate plans were made for the various premieres. So Far, So Good. Then, the film opened.And what went wrong?. Just about everything. Sadly, what might have made a tolerable 90 minute fantasy,had instead become a bloated,stodgy bore,which satisfied neither kids or adults. The original Hugh Lofting stories were all but thrown away for another attempt to grab the brass ring with a hit ''Roadshow Musical''. Though Fox wasn't alone in trying to foist an over-produced would-be spectacular on an increasingly fed up public (Think ''Camelot'' ''Half A Sixpence'' ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' as well as their own ''Star'') ''Dolittle'' is the one which nearly closed it's studio. And it's all to clear why. Even if the film had the requisite appeal for kids (which it did not) the idea of marketing a then-colossal $18 million dollar production to them, was plain suicide. Still, the movie has it's good points. Rex Harrison, (in the title role ) who, at one point, pulled out of the film, (and was briefly replaced by Christopher Plummer) does manage to be fairly ingratiating, though his character doesn't have much dimension. The songs, while no great shakes, do provide attractive background music. The photography is beautiful. But both Samantha Eggar and (Sir)Richard Attenbourough are wasted, Anthony Newley, as usual, mugs his way through his part-as, appropriately,''Matthew Mugg''. William Dix, the talented young co star of ''The Nanny'' is literally, just along for the ride. Where are they off to?. A voyage to find the ''Great Pink Sea Snail''. And that's about it for the ''plot''. Not surprisingly, the film was cut prior to it's national release, one of the casualties being a musical number. At the beginning of the film, there was even a hint of a possible Love Triangle between Harrison, Emma Fairfax (Eggar) and Newley which was also apparently cut. And, with it went the only (possibly) interesting conflict in the film.It was probably no surprise after a listless thirty minutes,that a film taking so long to get where it's going, ends up going nowhere. And, for this, audiences were expected to pay inflated ticket prices and reserve seats in advance. However, thanks to the early negative response, they were spared the expense.The same was definitely not true for Twentieth-century Fox.

Forget the cynical cold hearted versions by Eddie Murphy, this is the real thing. The cast are fabulous especially the great Anthony Newly who stands out in a great cast.Newly was a genius and a wonderful performer especially on stage and its great that the Newly magic lives on film. His opening number is a tour de force. Rex Harrison is wonderful and who cares if he is not much different from Higgins. The talk to the animals number is great.It is one of many movies that were under valued at the time of their release. It probably had much to do with people expecting another My Fair Lady. The score of the film is great. The film is a bit long but its still superb. THe film has a great message and promotes a love of animals. Samantha Eggar is great and looks wonderful. The effects are remarkable. I love that giant snail and the great moth. The animals themselves are simply delightful and the film exudes great charm and warmth. The Richard Attenborough number is a real winner and the film is great to look at. The scenery by the way is lovely. What a pounding this fine film got from critics.Not fair.. it should be seen on the big screen but I doubt there would be many brave enough to revive it.

It wasn't until Eddie Murphy did his two versions of Doctor Doolittle acting as a straight man to some hip talking animals in a modern setting that Doctor Doolittle made some real money. I certainly suppose the film was done a bit too soon before the age of computer graphics.I remember the film flopped badly and was roasted by critics at the time of release. I saw it back in the day and have seen it a few times over the year on television. Maybe a simpler story of a Doctor in Puddlesby- by-the-Sea treating animals might have been better. Certainly computer graphics would have been easier than all the animals that director Richard Fleischer had to deal with and who ran the budget up so bad with their difficulties there was no way this film could have made money.Still Rex Harrison for all the difficulties encountered plays the fantasy doctor who's learned the animal languages and can speak with them plays it absolutely straight under some trying circumstances. Just read some of the trivia on the film and you'll see what he, Anthony Newley, young William Dix, and Samantha Eggar had to deal with.Anthony Newley and his song writing partner Leslie Bricusse contributed the score which included the Academy Award winning Talk to the Animals which Sammy Davis, Jr. enjoyed a hit record from. Rex sings it here in his talk/sing style perfected from My Fair Lady.However my favorite in the cast who is so infectious in his delivery of his one number, I've Never Seen Anything Like It In Me Life is Richard Attenborough. He plays the circus owner to whom Doctor Doolittle reluctantly parts with a two headed llama called a PushmePullyou to help pay the rent. Attenborough looks like he's having a ball doing this elaborate production number where in the end the whole circus is serving as his chorus. Doctor Doolittle might have been better done in the way it was done today. Still it does have some charm to it and more than little children might actually enjoy it now.