Dolittle
Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 17, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
26
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
15
Negative:
29
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJan 15, 2020
For a fun time to dispel the gloom of January, Dolittle is just what the doctor ordered. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJan 15, 2020
For all its lumpen, awkward narrative and sometimes less-than-dazzling CGI, there's a peculiarly endearing and vibrant heart to Dolittle, and his name is Robert Downey Jr. It may be the closest he's ever come to channeling the surrealist instincts of his father, embracing Downey Sr.'s willingness to swim in the absurd. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 15, 2020
The film is so eager to please, so relentlessly quippy and quirky and tipped with antic whimsy, it often feels like visiting a zoo built into a Tilt-A-Whirl. Read full review
51
PolygonKaren HanJan 15, 2020
Characters go from one place to the next with no explanation and no second thought, and even single scenes play out as if someone attacked the reel of film with a pair of scissors. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Lara ZarumJan 17, 2020
If the muddled plot and aesthetic chaos of Dolittle leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, seek the antidote – an episode of "Planet Earth." Read full review
50
ConsequenceBlake GobleJan 15, 2020
At 100 minutes, with just enough digital chutzpah to keep everyone reasonably amused and never quite annoyed, Dolittle is tolerably fine. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartJan 15, 2020
Heck, between this and “Cats,” maybe Universal is now just specializing in confounding talking-animal movies. At least this one leaves you feeling kindly toward other species, rather than freaked out by them. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittJan 15, 2020
For every really cool interaction Downey's hero has with one of his animals as a caring listener, there's either an over-the-top spit take or an eye-rolling cheesy line of dialogue. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicKiMi RobinsonJan 15, 2020
Dolittle’s animals are easier to relate to, with their humanlike self-esteem and family issues, than the film’s central characters. Read full review
50
Screen RantMolly FreemanJan 15, 2020
It's fun enough to keep audiences mostly entertained for its hour and 45 minute runtime, but there's nothing particularly memorable to latch onto - not the CGI animals, not the fantasy world and not even Downey Jr's performance. Read full review
42
The PlaylistAsher LubertoJan 15, 2020
It’s a dull, plodding retread with new souped-up VFX that’s deeply uninvolving. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJan 15, 2020
Dolittle is full of anachronistic pop culture references and poop and fart humor, jokes delivered in suspiciously low-impact style by the film’s animated animals. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 15, 2020
The studio did its best to taxidermy this mess into something presentable, but it’s hard to make a Doctor Dolittle movie if you can’t even understand the parable of the scorpion and the frog. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerJan 30, 2020
Eddie Murphy’s Dr. Dolittle generated four sequels. On this showing, Downey Jr’s will be a standalone, an uncynical but mostly lacklustre kids’ flick that doesn’t find its voice, animal or otherwise. Read full review
40
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJan 16, 2020
Technically speaking, Dolittle is a film made for children. So we should probably mostly view it through that lens. In that regard, the movie is perfectly okay. Read full review
40
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiJan 15, 2020
Everything about Dolittle seems hastily put together — from the whiplash-inducing tonal shifts, to the potty humor, to the poor use of a star-studded cast. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 15, 2020
It’s ultimately a miracle that despite the tortured production process, Dolittle can most generously be described as passable for young, undiscerning viewers. It won’t charm or amuse you particularly but it’s not a catastrophe, the highest praise I can muster. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyJan 17, 2020
A wild whirlwind of a mess, without any coherence, without even a guiding principle. Read full review
38
ObserverOliver JonesJan 16, 2020
Words are generally a problem for Dolittle—a fatal flaw when your picture is about talking animals. While the words are abundant, most are either perfunctory exposition or anachronistic jokes that fall flatter than the state of Nebraska. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 15, 2020
The problems begin and end with the script, credited to three writers. “Dolittle” turns its title character into an eccentric and wearying blur of tics, tacked onto a character who comports himself like a bullying, egocentric A-lister rather than someone who, you know, actually enjoys the company of animals. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 15, 2020
And while I understand Downey wanting to make a movie for his kids, the world might be better served if, at long last, he made one for himself. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 15, 2020
Sheen and Banderas make their characters fun, but they’re the only ones. Read full review
35
The VergeJoshua RiveraFeb 25, 2020
The movie is dreck made just acceptable enough for children with still-developing frontal lobes, one that would bore most adults to tears if it didn’t stop to do things like give a dragon a colonic. Read full review
30
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 16, 2020
Whether it’s Downey’s mannerisms or the dull quipping provided by his menagerie of digital co-stars, Dolittle is a joyless slog trying to pretend it’s a hip, magical adventure. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla DargisJan 16, 2020
The charm of this fantasy has always been dubious and will presumably fade as the natural world continues to disappear and more and more species become extinct. Read full review
30
IGNKristy PuchkoJan 15, 2020
The talents of Robert Downey Jr. and the all-star voice cast are wasted in the disastrous mess that is Dolittle. Read full review
30
Film ThreatAlan NgJan 15, 2020
It’s insulting to think that children will see a movie solely because you have animals that talk and act silly. Read full review
30
VarietyCourtney HowardJan 15, 2020
What should have been an awe-filled adventure quickly curdles into an awful one, thanks to a pedestrian formula and the filmmakers’ fixation on fart jokes. Read full review
25
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpJan 23, 2020
Kids deserve better entertainment than Dolittle. They deserve not to have their intellect insulted with half-assed celebrity vocal cameos and a plot that concludes not with a bang, but with a fart joke. Neither Gaghan, nor his ensemble, nor Universal have an excuse. Downey doesn’t either. Read full review
25
Original-CinLiam LaceyJan 16, 2020
A family movie with lots of CGI-talking animals and star Robert Downey Jr. hiding his charisma, Dolittle is a tiresomely chaotic concoction. Read full review
25
The Associated PressJake CoyleJan 16, 2020
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of Dolittle isn’t the incoherent story line, the suffocating CGI or the unfunny stable of celebrity-voiced creatures. It’s that Downey’s personality doesn’t come through at all, either a victim of the surrounding mess or a party to it. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJan 15, 2020
It’s essentially an animated film, fronted by a live-action Downey and Michael Sheen’s one-note villain. Only Antonio Banderas, in a small role, truly seems to be having a great time. Read full review
25
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 15, 2020
Dolittle doesn’t have a fraction of the verve of the similarly misguided “Cats,” but it does share with that movie a staggering amount of “What were they thinking?” decisions. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 15, 2020
We have the first serious contender for Wasted Opportunity of the Decade. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineDerek SmithJan 15, 2020
Dolittle’s inability to completely develop any of its characters reduces the film to all pomp and no circumstance. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 11, 2020
What Sheen, born in Gwent, makes of Downey’s accent can only be imagined. It really is horribly inert, and every time Downey opens his mouth to say something unintelligible, the film dies a bit more. Read full review
20
Total FilmKen McIntyreJan 21, 2020
An uneasy combo of adventure film and gag-heavy kiddie-com, Dolittle fails to satisfy on either front. Read full review
20
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 16, 2020
This out-and-out disaster dissolves in a puddle of botched intentions that will leave children sad and confused and adults scratching their heads. Read full review
20
CNNBrian LowryJan 16, 2020
The aroma of "Cats" has yet to fade, but Universal follows it up with another animal-related stinker in Dolittle. Robert Downey Jr. produced and stars in the title role, but even charitably taking into account that this was designed for a younger family audience, talking to animals in this retelling is somehow a colossal bore. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 15, 2020
This is a film that just very expensively sits there onscreen with nothing ever seeming even remotely at stake. It has no weight or substance and delivers no impact of any kind. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJan 15, 2020
Do little? They could not have done less. The only appropriate adjective for this Dolittle is “hasty.” Everything feels slapdash and half-rendered; the plot proceeds in a fashion that could be described only as perfunctory. Everyone on screen seems to be in a stumbling daze, especially Downey as the frazzle-dazzled doctor. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 16, 2020
Too much tumult and chaos, not enough dramatic focus; too many animals with clever names spouting glib one-liners, not enough simple human — or for that matter nonhuman — feeling. What a waste! Read full review
10
The AtlanticDavid SimsJan 16, 2020
It’s transfixing at times, if only because it’s such a disaster. Read full review
10
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJan 15, 2020
An unpleasant, incoherent mess that feels like it was stitched together from outtakes and reshoots of something that used to look totally different. Read full review
0
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 15, 2020
Dolittle is a calamity for the ages. Read full review
0
Washington PostKristen Page-KirbyJan 15, 2020
Ultimately Dolittle is not just a weak story, badly told, but a puzzling waste of talent. Read full review
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