Doctor Dolittle

By RICHARD CORLISS

Is anyone else out there tired of attitude? Has popular culture finally O.D.'d on sassy sitcom kids, smirky sportscasters, ribald morning men? Worst of all are the talking animals on TV spots--surely it's time for them to croak. And yet, with perfect bad timing, here comes an entire movie with nothing but chatty dogs, pigs and geese. Yeah, with attitude, pal. Ya got a problem with that?

You might hope Eddie Murphy's new comedy would have some of the coarse elan of The Nutty Professor--its parading of his gift for mimicry and disguise. But here he's a physician who not only can talk to the animals (voiced by Norm MacDonald, Albert Brooks, Chris Rock and other familiars) but also has to listen to every cocky word they say. So this very active actor must be mainly reactive. And there's not much humor in 85 minutes of Eddie going, "Huh?"

Somewhere in the recesses of director Betty Thomas' slow, vacant farce is a sweet fable about a misfit father and daughter. But parents who think this Doctor Dolittle is for children should be prepared for gags about butt sniffing, dog whizzing, pigeon poop and rodent proctology. Of course, the kids won't be shocked. They're primed to love this stuff. After all, they've been raised on bad attitude.

--By Richard Corliss