The first film which followed after the leading actor's success in The Nutty Professor, with his fast trash talking attitude, was pretty funny, and there was this sequel, from director Steve Carr (Daddy Day Care, Are We Done Yet?). Basically Dr. John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy) has now become renowned for his gift to talk to animals, in fact there isn't a day when they don't come to him for help, which annoys his wife Lisa (Kristen Wilson), and he tries to keep an eye on his daughters Charisse (Raven-Symoné) and Maya (Kyla Pratt). John does find out that Charisse plans to spend her sixteenth birthday with her date Eric Wilson (Lil' Zane), so he insists she brings him home to celebrate properly, but of course an animal informs him he is needed by the God Beaver (Richard C. Sarafian). He is told that the forest he and numerous other animals are living in is slowly being torn down by wood cutters, and the only way to save the few thousand acres left is to convince the authorities there is an endangered species living there. So John comes up with the idea to save the forest by reintroducing a trained bumbling circus brown bear named Archie (Tank the Bear, voiced by Steve Zahn) into the wild, to mate with a wild female Pacific Western bear. So Archie is taken to the forest and it is clear quite quickly that he isn't used to the environment he hasn't been in since birth, so the Doctor has to teach him a few things first. Then they spot female bear Ava (Lisa Kudrow), who he is smitten with but is failing to gain her interest or attention in having a relationship. With a little help from the other animals in the forest they teach Archie to have confidence and be romantic, and ultimately become the brown bear he should be. Meanwhile in his own life, John tries to make peace and eldest daughter without the talking to animals thing getting in the way, while also trying to stop mean Joe Potter (Jeffrey Jones) taking down the forest. Archie does manage to sway Ava by retrieving a seemingly impossible to get bees nest full of honey, but John might be too late to convince the authorities they are actually going to mate. So to stop the forest destruction once and for all, thousands of animals around the world are seen going on strike, so dogs won't go walking, race horses don't run, killer whales won't perform, birds poop all over Potter and his colleague, and much more besides. In the end, John and the animals do save the forest outside of San Francisco from destruction, and Archie and Aav did indeed mate to have three cubs together. Also starring Kevin Pollak as Jack Riley and the Alligator, Norm MacDonald as Lucky the Dog, Jacob Vargas as Pepito the Chameleon, South Park's Isaac Hayes as Possum, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's James Avery as Eldon, Steve Irwin - The Crocodile Hunter, Andy Dick as Lennie the Weasel, David Cross as Dog, Futurama's John Di Maggio as Seeing Eye Dog, Wassup Fish and Mouse, Resident Evil: Apocalypse's Mike Epps as Sonny the Bear, Jamie Kennedy as Bandit, Cedric the Entertainer as Zoo Bear #1, A Walk to Remember's Mandy Moore as Girl Bear Cub, Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz as Boy Bear Cub and Arnold Schwarzenegger archive as White Wolf. Murphy is still reasonable as the agitated, Zahn and the help of the special effects make Archie the Bear a lovable character, and some of the other animals are cute to look at and listen to also, some of the story is I guess could have been bettered, but it's such a bad family fantasy comedy. Okay!
Review of Dr. Dolittle 2
