Popular reviews

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  Review by Sam Van Hallgren ★★ 4

  How good is Mark Harris's 'Pictures at a Revolution'? So good that even when he explicitly tells you that NO one likes Doolitle (yes, a '68 Best Picture nominee), I just had to watch it anyway because the stories Harris tells about its ill fated production are so good. This thing is lifeless. A tank lurching through a ballet routine. And yet: such care and weird inventiveness in the production design. Props to the craftspeople of Old Hollywood.

  The seven year old: "I think that actually was better than My Fair Lady." Me: "Huh."

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  Review by Sam Meltzer ★★★ 5

  With its charm and stunning visuals, Doctor Dolittle was truly a surprise. I get the hate for this movie. It’s long, and many find it boring, but I was just really into it. I really liked what Rex Harrison brought to the character of Doctor Dolittle. All the songs he sings are filled with perfect rhyming and great energy. Since I read these books as a kid, I was always intrigued by this specific movie. Not exactly the Eddie Murphy ones, but this one. This is one I really haven’t heard much about and I think it’s safe to call it underrated. 

  From an overall technical standpoint, I think this movie is genius. Everything from the cinematography, visual effects, editing…

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  Review by olivia ★★★ 3

  as a vegetarian and massive animal lover, i liked this and the ideals behind it. i can't believe i hadn't seen this original version. the movie is quirky and funny and cute, the songs are masterfully written (great rhyme schemes), and the overall atmosphere is wholesome and warm. it's a feel good movie, to be sure!

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  Review by sonictiger ★★½ 2

  This film does little to make me like it. See what I did there?

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  Review by Taylor Leverage ★½

  Oh, it's a musical.

  Visually, Doctor Dolittle is tremendously impressive, with tons of on-location shooting and color, but in virtually every other respect the film comes up short. The whole concept of Dolittle is so tremendously whimsical but Rex Harrison feels miscast, too conventionally stuffy and uptight for the character and far from a great singer to anchor a musical comedy; he doesn't really so much sing as he just speaks with a bit of rhythm. In contrast, Richard Attenborough in his much smaller role brims with energy and excitement, walking with an actual pep in his step once he gets the chance to tap into the idea of a fantastical creature. But it also helps that he has far…

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  Review by Todd Hill ★½

  He talks to the animals, and they talk back to him? Doctor Delusional is more like it. During the late 1960's the musical film genre lost steam, and movies like this one are why. Critically panned, a bomb at the box office, this film is a lifeless slog. It only received a Best Picture nomination because its studio pulled a Weinstein and bullied the Academy. Fortunately, 1967 was a particularly strong year for Best Picture nominees, and this title was pushed back to the rear.

  While Rex Harrison plays his usual persona, Anthony Newley's vocal stylings are especially annoying. None of the movie's musical numbers are remotely memorable. Samantha Egger is in the film, I suppose, to become romantically involved…

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  Review by Anna Imhof 🌸 4

  “I’m one who liked "Doctor Dolittle", and I’m certainly alone in that. I liked it and I began to think people hated me because I liked it. I saw a whole lot in it, and I could tell my mother to go see it. It's not that I’m a prude, I don’t mind a little spice here and there. I go out on a special night to see something that's rough, but I don’t want to take my mother to it.”
  — Fred Astaire

  Only watched this because Astaire liked it.

  On one hand I do understand why this wasn’t a big hit, on the other hand I feel like I understand what Astaire saw in it. But first let’s…

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  Review by UltimateMovieRankings ★★½

  Why I watched this one? I have been reading about this movie for years....and the other day I saw it a thrift store for a buck...so I figured I would give it a chance.

  What is this one about? Rex Harrison plays an animal communicating veterinarian that goes too far for his clientèle, he and his friends escape their hometown and search for the Great Pink Sea Snail.

  My thoughts on this one? I remember reading about this movie in the Golden Turkey Award books....I have also read that this might be the worst movie ever to somehow earn a Best Picture Oscar nomination. So does it deserve its bad reputation? Well.....the songs are pretty weak, the story is silly,…

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  Review by Cate ★★★½ 5

  Those eyes, so wise, so warm, so real.
  How I love the world your eyes reveal.
  Isn’t it a pity you’re a seal?

  My god, what a bloated serve of a film: it lumbers along, sometimes into greatness, always camp – its tone probably best epitomised in the scene where Rex Harrison appears to fall in love with and sing a romantic number to seal he's dressed in a bonnet and shawl who is sobbing throughout – big milky tears – while Harrison croons about the look in her eyes, kisses her, and yeets her off a cliff into the ocean so she can be with her husband once more, before being arrested for her murder.

  It's a principle cast…

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  Review by horrorandgamer ★★★★ 1

  It’s a pretty amazing take of doctor Dolittle  and for a 60s movie it’s still mad impressive.
  8/10

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  Review by Aaron ★★★

  Dolittle Movie Review
  Rex Harrison plays Dr.John Dolittle the man who can walk with the animals, talk with the animals,grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals in this 1967 musical comedy based on the books by Hugh Lofting.
  One of the differences between Eddie Murphy's John Dolittle he has a gift,a ability to talk to the animals while Rex Harrison has to learn to talk to the animals.
  Doctor Dolittle has a great use of slapstick humar, I enjoy all the songs rather catchy.
  Richard Attenborough it is nice to see him and he's entertaining as Albert Blossom great to see him sing.
  Dolittle and his friends go on a voyage to find a great pink sea snail after making money at a circus and court cases alongside other mischief. Lots happens in the run time of just over two hours.

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  Review by Catherine Stebbins ★½

  + 1/2 star for the seal scene