Doctor Dolittle

Synopsis: Dr. John Dolittle has the world in his hands: A beautiful wife at his side, two adorable daughters and a career that could not go better. One night, he nearly runs over a dog with his car. The dog yells "bonehead" and disappears. From then on, his childhood ability is back: To communicate with animals. Unfortunately, the word of Dolittle's ability is spreading quickly. Soon, many animals from rat to horse flock to his place to get medical advice. But his colleagues suspect he's going mad, and as the clinic Dolittle used to work for is about to being taken over for a huge amount of money, many decisions have to be made. Believe him? Put him into a mental institution? Sell the clinic? But also his family is close to breaking apart. Until a circus tiger falls seriously ill.
Director(s): Betty Thomas
Production: 20th Century Fox
  4 wins & 9 nominations.
 
IMDB:
5.4
Metacritic:
46
Rotten Tomatoes:
43%
PG-13
Year:
1998
85 min
Website
4,007 Views


They say the great thing

about being a kid is, it's so easy to pretend.

You can have a conversation

with your dog, or a baseball, or a banana.

Well, what if it wasn't pretend?

What if you could have a conversation?

I mean, not with a baseball or a banana -

that's ridiculous. But with your dog...

I mean, we don't have the same concept

of time that, for instance, people do.

Because you have watches and clocks.

But we do know that you go away. And it's

not like we don't know that you're gone.

So, we don't know exactly how long, no.

Why do dogs sniff each other's butts?

Well, that's just kinda

our way of shaking hands.

If you really wanna get a sense of

who somebody is, you gotta sniff their butt.

Son. Stop talkin' to the dog.

She doesn't understand a word.

At first his dad thought "Hey, it's harmless."

But as time went on, John crossed that

fine line between harmless and just weird.

Mr Galvin.

- Mr Dolittle.

- This is my son John.

- John, this is your new principal, Mr Galvin.

- Nice to meet you, John.

That's not good.

- Nice to meet you.

- John!

It was time to put an end to it.

Thank you for coming, Reverend.

Leave this boy, devil man. Go now, Satan.

Take the serpent's voices with you.

I command you to come outta this boy!

Come on outta this boy!

God said it! Come on!

I'm gonna bite ya.

Get off!

Get this dog... get this dog off of me!

She was my best friend.

You'll make some real friends now.

From that day on, John Dolittle

never spoke to animals again.

Someday, you're gonna thank me for this.

And after a while all he could remember...

...was that deep down

there was something missing.

And, just like his dad wanted, he grew up

to be a regular guy. You know... miserable.

Hey! Hey, get outta here!

Hey! Haa! Haaaa!

Haaa-aaahh! Haaaa!

Stupid mutt.

A vicious animal's in the hallway!

Did I mention he was a father? A lot like his

own father, who was a father to him before...

...he himself became...

Ahem. Oh, look! She's got a giant egg.

KEEP OU - Good morning, Charisse.

- I have changed my name to Paprika.

Paprika? Paprika Dolittle.

That has a nice ring to it.

Not Dolittle. Just... Paprika.

Well, I don't understand it.

What is that about?

You know, Salt-n-Pepa? Paprika?

- Oh, oh, OK. Paprika. I get it.

- I think Paprika is a beautiful name.

Really? I think Paprika

sounds like a seasoning.

- Dolittle.

- He doesn't take anything we want seriously.

Tell me about it.

I did go over the proposal. It's unbelievable.

- OK, I'm on my way in now.

- Maya, where are you goin' with that?

- It's for my swan egg I found.

- Looks like it'd be a good omelette.

- It's gonna hatch any day now.

- You'll miss that cos you'll be at camp.

I can't go. When a bird hatches, the first thing

it sees, it bonds with it. I want it to be me.

You know, it is not healthy for you

to spend all your time with your experiments.

An experiment for you would be to spend

time with kids your own age at camp...

...which is exactly where you're goin'

this Sunday - camp.

And what about my pet egg?

Here. Here's half a dozen pet eggs

to take with you to camp.

- Stop it.

- I don't know what all the fuss is about.

We went and bought you that thing -

what was that pet rat thing that we bought?

- A guinea pig.

- The thing died. And it's not our fault.

It didn't die.

His name is Rodney and he's in my room.

So why are you bothering me

about the swan?

- I'm goin' to work. Goodbye.

- Bye.

Have a nice day, everybody. Nice day.

Johnny! Gene has got some qualms

about the new proposal. Talk to him.

- No room for qualms, Gene.

- No room for qualms.

- Qualms are bad.

- Qualms are bad. Listen to Johnny.

I have qualms I'd like to discuss.

I'm just afraid that if we let a big company

like Calnet take us over...

...you know, we're not gonna be us any more.

- You know? We'd be them.

- Let me explain.

"Them" has the best hospitals,

the best labs...

...and "them" is gonna pay us

a very big, giant amount of money.

I swear to God that

when I think about the money, I get teary.

- Look at me.

- Those are real tears in his eyes.

So Saturday we're sitting down with the

Calnet people. I'm very excited about it.

Hey, wait. Whoa! Saturday morning? I'm

supposed to take my family to the country.

Well... don't.

You see? It's happening already.

- What?

- You're being forced to neglect your family.

Gene, relax. No such thing.

- Mrs, uh... Mrs O'Brien?

- Yes.

- How are you? Is your tummy still?

- Uh-huh.

Saturday morning, guys.

Gene, no tank tops, please.

- Mrs Parkus.

- Yes, Doctor?

- Mrs Parkus. Have you eaten shellfish again?

- Just soft-shell crab.

- And what's the middle word?

- Shell.

Rodney's lost! He's not in his cage.

Y'all get goin'. I'll find your hamster.

- He's a guinea pig.

- Whatever. It's a rodent. I'll find the rodent.

Hey, Nutmeg, let's go!

You better wipe that look off your face.

That's better.

- She's turnin' into a wiseass.

- She's turning into you.

You know, there's more to this HMO deal

than money. You sell, they own you.

This will be good for us.

I am so tired of that rap. It's always for us.

But sometimes I don't know who "us" is.

What do you mean? Us is us.

Me and you and Maya and Charisse.

Lisa, the more money you have, the more

time you can spend with your family.

Meanwhile you'll just have to make do with

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Nat Mauldin

Nat Mauldin is an American screenwriter, television writer and film producer. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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