It is flawed (with that bad opening), but stick with it and see if you find Rex Harrison as charming as I did. Overall, the film simply LOOKS smashing, with marvelous locations in England's most beautiful city, Castle Combe.
Harrison is on-target throughout but, story-wise, momentum doesn't build until the second hour, when Dolittle and his companions hit the South Seas in search of the Great Pink Sea Snail. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this. Why not start the story with Dolittle finding his voice, cut the introduction with Newley, and then get on with the plot? After this tiresome, talky opening, the pacing does pick up (right about the time Richard Attenborough enters as circus-owner Blossom). The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. I get defensive if a movie foists a flashback on me in the first 15 minutes (and this flashback is a long one, laden with silly slapstick). Admittedly, "Doctor Dolittle" gets off to a clunky start with Anthony Newley telling of Dolittle's beginnings.and the film goes into stillborn flashback mode. My favorite: "When you say 'He can speak crab and pelican', they'll say 'Like hell he can!'" (cue parrot's ruffled reaction). Harrison is wonderful and regal amongst his animals and I love many of his lines (the spin he gives to his dialogue makes the words his own). There is no other Doctor Dolittle for me. So attached am I to Rex Harrison's personage to the character of Doctor Dolittle, when I see copies of Hugh Lofting's books without the movie tie-in shots I actually feel cheated.
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