Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Steve Carr (Director) & Heidi Santelli (Co-Producer) Featurette-Making Of-(25:46) Deleted Scenes-2, 1 with/without commentary Featurette-Bear Necessities: A Kid's Guide To Grizzlies (8:23) Trailer-Doctor Dolittle (2:14) Featurette-Making Movie Magic With Rhythm & Hues (5:29) Storyboard Comparisons-5 Music Video-Cluck Cluck-The Product G&B featuring Wyclef (3:46) Featurette-Wild On The Set With Tank The Bear (11:00) Trailer-Music Promo Spot (0:34) Theatrical Trailer-2 TV Spots-12 Trailer-Ice Age (2:20)
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	83:51
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (42:47)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Steve Carr
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Eddie Murphy Kristen Wilson Jeffrey Jones Kevin Pollack Raven-Symoné Kyla Platt
Case	?
RPI	$36.95	Music	David Newman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (96Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Croatian Czech Danish English for the Hearing Impaired Finnish Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish Turkish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, partially during credits

    After the success of Doctor Dolittle, it was somewhat inevitable that the studio would fall over itself to issue a sequel, and so it is that I find myself sitting down to once again return to that world of the talking animals and the only man that can understand them. Looking back over my review of the original film, it is fairly clear that the highlight there was indeed the talking animals (and especially a certain guinea pig atop a car singing The Answer Is Blowing In The Wind), so it is to be expected I guess that the sequel should attempt to out-animal the animals.

    Dr John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) is coming to terms with his rekindled ability to converse with the animals, and is in demand around the world as a communicator with and facilitator of problem solving to the animal world. Not that this is being held in that high a regard by his wife Lisa (Kristen Wilson), owing to his absences away from the family, and his daughter Charisse (Raven-Symoné), who is positively mortified at the embarrassment her father is causing her as she celebrates her sixteenth birthday. It seems only youngest daughter Maya (Kyla Platt) is happy with the deal, and spends much of her time trying to kindle the same sort of talent as her father's. During something of a forced family birthday celebration, John is "requested" to attend an audience with "the boss" - a beaver whose forest is being destroyed by loggers. Coerced into doing something about it, John reneges on a plan to head to Europe for a family holiday and sets out to save the forest as only he can. Well at least he and a rare Pacific Western bear known as Ava (Lisa Kudrow). With Lisa arguing the legal battle, they obtain an injunction that gives them 30 days to achieve the impossible - to reintroduce into the wild the only other Pacific Western bear alive, a performing bear called Archie (Steve Zahn). Thus the story unfolds as the Dolittle family heads off into the forest to live as they try to reacquaint Archie with all those lost instincts, as well as getting him set with the sexiest Pacific Western bear around. Well, the only Pacific Western bear around actually. Can John Dolittle achieve the impossible and bring back the entire Pacific Western bear species with the aid of a performing bear straight out of the Country Bear Jamboree? And just exactly what is Charisse so desperately trying to hide?

    Just as the first film saw the acting talent upstaged by the animal talent, so it is here. Mind you, it has to be said that the acting talent is a bit closer this time round as the story is nowhere near as fresh in this incarnation. The unfortunate result of that lack of freshness is the fact that most of the jokes here are somewhat more forced than they were in the first film. Unfortunately too, the film simply lacks the ace-in-the-hole of a singing guinea pig atop a speeding car. Which is not to say that there are no good one-liners here, for there are and the result is the occasional, genuine bout of laughter. It is just that they are fewer and further between than in the first film. The continuing upturn in the career of Eddie Murphy is perhaps starting to show signs of withering, but this remains a decent performance. A pity that the chronic under-characterisation of the rest of the family members continues here, as Kristen Wilson certainly deserves more than she gets here. Even the pompously named Raven-Symoné is not entirely undeserving of better. The rest of the technical side of things is quite decent without being especially terrific, with some of the special effects with respect of the talking animals looking just a tad too obvious in my view. Such is the pace at which we see dazzling new CGI work being done, that this is not a great example of pushing the boundaries.

   All in all, a thoroughly competent, if not especially memorable, sequel that pushes all the right buttons but seemingly not in the right sequence as the film never really fires. Certainly not a dog by any means but equally not a diamond either.

Video

    The video transfer ultimately left me just a little bit disappointed. The overall look seems to be slightly "off", and displays a little too much noticeable, albeit generally minor, aliasing.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    So exactly how is the transfer "off"? It is sharp enough but could perhaps have been a little sharper. The detail is decent enough but could have been a little better. Shadow detail is more than acceptable, but could perhaps have been a little better. Clarity is good with no real grain to speak of, but it could perhaps have been a little better. It really is just a bunch of little things that just leave me with the niggling feeling that what we have here, whilst quite acceptable, is not as good as perhaps it should have been. Perhaps one place that this is best illustrated is during the earlier part of the film where John Dolittle's shoulders seem to display what appears to be dot crawl (between 9:00 and 9:25 being the best illustration), mixed with a bit of aliasing. It is no biggie but certainly is noticeable and detracts a tad from the film.

    The "off" aspect of the transfer extends to the colours, which at times seem to have a digital, silvery look to them. Whilst they are generally quite vibrant, there tends to be a slight disappointment in the saturation of the colours - not all the time I might add either. At times the colours are very nicely rendered with nice tonal depth and plenty in the way of a bright and vibrant look to them. So basically, more than acceptable but perhaps not quite as good as we could have expected. There are no over saturation or colour bleed problems that I could see.

    There did not appear to be any MPEG artefacts in the transfer, apart from some rather noticeable blockiness in the picture at 73:57. It does not last long but if you happen to notice it.... The main issue with the transfer as a whole is the consistent presence of minor aliasing. It manifests itself in minor things like John Dolittle's glasses and animal whiskers just about all the time. Aliasing is also present in the end credits. In themselves these instances would be virtually ignorable, but as they are constantly present, the moment you spot it, you will see it every time thereafter. The transfer is quite clean and generally free from film artefacts.

    Unlike the rental DVD, this is an RSDL formatted DVD with the layer change coming during a fade to black at 42:47. It is barely noticeable and does not interrupt the flow of the film at all.

    There are thirteen subtitle options on the DVD, however the only one of use to me is the English for the Hearing Impaired. Well presented and entirely legible, they are quite accurate with only some odd lapses here and there, where the dialogue gets rather verbose.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two soundtracks on the DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and an English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded soundtrack.

    In general, the dialogue comes up very well in the transfer, with only the odd animal voice here and there being just a bit difficult to comprehend. Obviously the animal voices are something of an audio sync nightmare, but in general they have been quite well handled. In all other respects there are no issues with audio sync in the transfer.

    David Newman is responsible for the original score here, and it is pretty good all things considered. It does not draw too much attention to itself, meaning that you do concentrate on the dialogue as you need to in a film of this nature.

    Basically, this is a thoroughly competent soundtrack with little of note to comment upon. Sure, I could have wished for a more distinctive presence through the rear surround channels and a bit more support from the bass channel, but that is merely what we do not get. What we do have is some good rear surround channel support where necessary, some reasonable (if occasionally slightly heavy handed) bass channel support and a very decent frontal soundscape that does all that is necessary to give the dialogue the sort of presence it needs. The sound is quite open and there is nothing to detract from the sound at all.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    After the paucity of extras on the rental-only release, Fox have made up with the DVD viewing public by indulging in a fairly comprehensive package of extras on this sell-through release. It actually is not a bad package overall, although perhaps not as film-supporting and enhancing as perhaps I would have liked.

Menu

    After a bit of an animated introduction, you have to decide whether you want to see the beaver or not. If you don't, well you won't, but you will get an admonishment before being given another try. If you do, you get to see the film and extras after more menu audio and animation. I am not quite sure how these will go down after the twentieth viewing but certainly on the first viewing they have a high cuteness factor. All menus are 16x9 enhanced.

Audio Commentary - Steve Carr (Director) and Heidi Santelli (Co-Producer)

    Not a terrific example of the art, but nonetheless a worthwhile listen at least once. Whilst Steve Carr has an enormous tendency to suggest that everyone who worked on the film was terrific, and Heidi Santelli takes something of a back seat here, they do manage to impart some interesting stuff about the film. At times though it does descend into something of an annoyance, as exampled when Steve Carr makes reference to the appearances of his father

Featurette - The Making Of Doctor Dolittle 2 (25:46)

    Something of a misnomer really, as the first fifteen minutes are basically a resume of Eddie Murphy's career to date, with brief extracts from some of his better films along with some interview stuff with the man. Using a snappy, jump cut style that switches the camera angle on Eddie with a regularity that gets frankly quite annoying after a very short time, this short homage to Eddie is followed by what really is nothing more than a ten minute EPK-style presentation where the cast members basically tell you who they play. Whilst the technical quality is quite excellent, the content is really quite sub-par in terms of informative enhancement of the film. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Extended Scenes (2)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, they are not 16x9 enhanced and come with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. They have a lead in from the actual film that demonstrates how the scene would have run had these bits not been excised. The two scenes are The Jail (3:17, with an optional commentary by Steve Carr and Heidi Santelli) and Mr Potter Signs The Document (0:44, and excised for a fairly obvious reason). Technically quite excellent, so these were obviously quite late excisions.

Featurette - Bear Necessities: A Kids Guide To Grizzlies (8:23)

    A not entirely uninformative little featurette about Grizzly Bears in general. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced and with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, it is quite interesting and technically is without any problems. Unfortunately, it is overshadowed by the very funny advert for John West Red Salmon that is included in the middle of the show!

Theatrical Trailer - Doctor Dolittle (2:14)

    Just in case you had forgotten the original film, we have the trailer for it right here, right now. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing has yet to be determined. Absolutely nothing wrong with the trailer from a technical point of view. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, it comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Featurette - Making Movie Magic With Rhythm & Hues (5:29)

    An all too short an effort showing how they did the special effects with the talking animals, the commentary being provided by Doug Smith (Second Unit Director and Visual Effects Supervisor) and Gary Nolan (Visual Effects Producer). This sort of thing I find quite fascinating, which is why the lack of length and depth here is a disappointment. For those wondering about the title, Rhythm & Hues is the company that did the visual effects. Once again there is nothing wrong with this technically and the presentation is the usual Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced and with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Storyboard Comparisons (5)

    Using a split screen format, this compares the storyboards to the actual film for the following five sequences from the film:

• Scene 1: The Doctor's Office (0:50)
• Scenes 11 to 14: Paging Charisse (5:29)
• Scene 19: Is This Biggy Mac? (0:52)
• Scenes 56,57 and 59: Archie Learns About Bears (2:01)
• Scenes 83 to 88: Too Much Ice Cream (2:07)

    Interesting as far as these sorts of comparisons go, and certainly nicely presented without any technical issues to detract from the presentation.

Music Video - Cluck Cluck: The Product G & B featuring Wyclef (3:46)

    Whilst the music is not to my tastes, others will obviously have a different point of view. Nice, bright, vibrant colours highlight the presentation, whilst just the odd hint of shimmer detracts marginally. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, it comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Featurette - Wild On The Set with Tank the Bear (11:00)

    Taken from an episode of the series Wild On The Set that features on Animal Planet, a cable television show from Discovery Channel, this is a quite informative and certainly very endearing feature on Tank the Bear, who obviously stars in the film. As is generally always the case with material from Discovery Channel, the quality is very good. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, it comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Trailer - Music Promo Spot (0:34)

    Just as is suggested, this is a television advert for the soundtrack album. Ho hum. Presented in a Full Frame format that is not 16x9 enhanced, it comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Theatrical Trailer (2)

    Two marginally different trailers, running 1:06 and 1:28 respectively, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, that is not 16x9 enhanced and with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Technically very good if not exactly the greatest demonstrations of the art of film promotion.

Television Spots (12)

    Twelve variations on the same theme, all running the obligatory 34 seconds. All are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, not 16x9 enhanced and with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Technically very good even if they get a tad repetitive after about the second effort.

Trailer - Ice Age (2:20)

    A very amusing introduction to the upcoming animated feature Ice Age that certainly encourages you to check out this film when it finally gets released. Absolutely superb technically, it is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (not 16x9 enhanced) and with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

    As far as we can ascertain, there is no substantial difference between the Region 1 and Region 4 release.

    Dr. Dolittle 2 is still not a classic film but at least it is now available to buy. The DVD seems to feature the same video transfer used on the rental-only release which still seems to smack a little of being done with a lack of care, but is otherwise quite acceptable. The film suffers a bit from the sequel syndrome but nonetheless there are a couple of genuine laughs to be had in the film. Is it worthy of a buy? I am a tad ambivalent on the point and can only give it a guarded recommendation as a purchase.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall