Dolittle (2020)

Playing iconic English characters will be gleefully mentioned in Robert Downey Jr’s oeuvre in the future if at all Dolittle delivered its promise. He had already played Charlie Chaplin (who was an Englishman, by the way) and Sherlock Holmes.  As one had expected, especially if you have started reading the reviews, his attempt to give Dolittle that superpowered version failed, but not miserably.

What, I felt, contributed to the downfall was the very reason why many would flock the theatres for – the man himself, Robert Downey Jr (or RDJ as we love to call him…or, as I love to call him). His performance was…and I am very sorry to say this, having been his fan now since the first Iron Man, having noted with both eyebrows lifted, his tremendous involvement in Chaplin, way earlier…simply sucked.

Yes, it pained me to tell you guys that. He changed his voice slightly, added a mishmash of accents and at most times, seemed uninterested. One could attribute to the fact that he has to play with a barrage of CGI characters, but having played Iron Man many times, blue screen, and talking to a tennis ball on a stick should have been run in the park for him.

For, he is the most interesting leading man ever to grace the scene, where he can never go wrong even if the film sucked, like, say, Paul Newman. Likeable, affable, charming, Newman, when even playing an anti-hero, had the temerity to still pull you to his side (Cat On Hot Tin Roof, Hud). RDJ, as he is fondly known, emphasis on “fond”, has the same superpower, mind you and, yes, he is the main attraction here, but somehow his performance lacked that firepower even when it was required.

Instead, much energy seemed to have been channelled by the director on the motley crew of talking animals. All of them, yes, all of them, lacked character. They just talk and that’s about it, even when the attributes (like the Gorilla that lacked courage) were spelt out clearly in the dialogues and other expositions.

None of the scenes is memorable. Nothing clicked. There’s nothing in there that will be talked about even the next few months. I am not even sure why they rebooted this (as third franchise for RDJ? After Iron Man/Avengers and Sherlock Holmes) after the not-so-awesome Eddie Murphy flicks which were re-adaptation of the book by Hugh Lofting after it was a first a silent flick in 1928, radio series in the 1930s, animated TV series in early 70s after the successful screen adaptation in 1967 with Rex Harrison in the title role, and followed by the unforgettable Eddie Murphy version and its forgettable sequels and other “offshoots” that followed.

In fact, the latter productions were definitely not top-notch materials and probably diluted much of the surprise factors that there were actually nothing much to expect from this version starring the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. Currently.

The plot is hardly original, as are the characters7 including the bad guys…. An opportunity to go deliciously over-the-top considering the genre was wasted by Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen. The animals are all without personality, you may find them cute…but that’s all they are. They are not going to make you hold your breath, let alone get emotional.

Frankly, I wish I would recommend this film as a fan of RDJs (who executive produced this with his wife), but frankly, give it a miss. Why do I even bother to write this review? It is just to remind that not all that glitters are gold; I have written elsewhere that if you take RDJ out of the Avengers, the series would flop. But he seemed to be not that powerful here. Sorry, my man, better luck next time.

To think that he executive produced this drivel with his wife. Oh, man...as they say in Tamizh, Aanaikkum Adi Sarakkum (Elephants can fall too)...