Betty Thomas's remake of the 1967 film is neatly updated with Eddie Murphy playing Dr John Dolittle, who talks to the animals.
Dolittle and his pushy partner Mark Weller hope to strike a lucrative deal with a major corporation, but more and more of Dolittle's time is taken up giving CPR to lab rats and talking down a suicidal tiger from jumping five storeys.
The film works because Murphy's character is played relatively straight while the creatures are allowed to be cynically sarcastic about him, humans and others species. Special plaudits go to the lab rats voiced by Reni Santoni and John Leguizamo,Chris Rock as Rocky the guinea pig and Norm Macdonald as Dolittle's laconic companion Lucky the dog.
Doctor Dolittle is a Film programme that first aired in 1998 and has been classified a PG certificate.
