Dr. Dolittle (1998 film)

For other uses, see Doctor Dolittle (disambiguation).
Dr. Dolittle
Confused man in a white medical coat, with a white stethoscope hanging from his neck, and a group of small animals.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBetty Thomas
Screenplay by
  • Larry Levin
  • Nat Mauldin
Based onDoctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRussell Boyd
Edited byPeter Teschner
Music byRichard Gibbs
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • June 26, 1998 (1998-06-26)
Running time
85 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$71.5 million
Box office$294.4 million[3]

Dr. Dolittle (also written as Doctor Dolittle) is a 1998 American fantasy comedy film directed by Betty Thomas, written by Larry Levin and Nat Mauldin, and starring Eddie Murphy in the title role along with Ossie Davis and Oliver Platt. The film was based on the series of children's stories of the same name by Hugh Lofting, but used no material from any of the novels; the main connection is the titular character Dr. John Dolittle and his ability to talk to animals, although the Pushmi-Pullyu, a much-loved feature of the books, notably makes a very brief appearance in a couple of scenes. The first novel, The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920) had originally and previously been filmed in 1967 as a musical of the same name, which was a closer (albeit still very loose) adaptation of the book. The film was a box-office success,[3] although it received mixed reviews from critics upon release.[4][5]

The film's success generated one theatrical sequel, Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), and three films released direct to video: Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006), Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief (2008), and Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts (2009).[6]

  1. ^ Petrikin, Chris (February 18, 1998). "Fox renamed that toon". Variety. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  2. ^ "DR DOLITTLE (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. July 1, 1998. Archived from the original on 2016-04-09.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference mojo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference tomatoes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference metacritic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Dr. Dolittle Million Dollar Mutts at IMDb