The presence of Rex Harrison, his friends from the animal kingdom, and the passage of time has turned a mediocre movie musical into a favorite cult classic. “Doctor Dolittle” suffers from a slow-moving story, bad dialogue from a poorly written script, atrocious acting, and forgettable musical numbers. The only exceptional song is “Talk to the Animals,” which won one of the film’s two Oscars for Best Song (Leslie Bricusse). Best Special Visual Effects for L. B. Abbott was the other Academy Award winner.
Those responsible for this cinematic disaster were producer Arthur P. Jacobs, director Richard Fleischer (“Fantastic Voyage” 1966), and Leslie Bricusse, who the screenplay and the soundtrack. The film suffered from numerous production problems and ran well over budget, and cost 20th Century Fox millions of dollars. It was a massive flop at the box office. Talented co-stars like Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley, and Richard Attenborough could not and did not help “Doctor Dolittle” do a little better.
Doctor Dolittle ((1967)
cinema
My Review
The presence of Rex Harrison, his friends from the animal kingdom, and the passage of time has turned a mediocre movie musical into a favorite cult classic. “Doctor Dolittle” suffers from a slow-moving story, bad dialogue from a poorly written script, atrocious acting, and forgettable musical numbers. The only exceptional song is “Talk to the Animals,” which won one of the film’s two Oscars for Best Song (Leslie Bricusse). Best Special Visual Effects for L. B. Abbott was the other Academy Award winner.
Those responsible for this cinematic disaster were producer Arthur P. Jacobs, director Richard Fleischer (“Fantastic Voyage” 1966), and Leslie Bricusse, who the screenplay and the soundtrack. The film suffered from numerous production problems and ran well over budget, and cost 20th Century Fox millions of dollars. It was a massive flop at the box office. Talented co-stars like Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley, and Richard Attenborough could not and did not help “Doctor Dolittle” do a little better.