The film was based on the series of children's stories of the same name by Hugh Lofting, but used no material from any of the novels; the main connection is the titular character Dr. John Dolittle and his ability to talk to animals, although the Pushmi-Pullyu, a much-loved feature of the books, notably makes a very brief appearance in a couple of scenes.
The first novel, The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920) had originally and previously been filmed in 1967 as a musical of the same name, which was a closer (albeit still very loose) adaptation of the book.
He is happily married to his wife Lisa, and has two daughters, typical teenager Charisse, and nerdy Maya, who has a pet guinea pig named Rodney, and what she believes is a swan egg, which she hopes will bond with her upon hatching.
John has a CT scan after animals start asking for favors when he helps a wounded owl, and he then unwittingly adopts the dog he nearly ran over, eventually naming him Lucky.
John later starts secretly helping various animals, including a suicidal circus tiger named Jake, who suffers great cerebral vein.
John then apologizes to Lucky, and together, they sneak Jake out of the circus and take him to the hospital to perform surgery on him, on the same night a party is going on where Calloway will buy the company.
On its opening weekend, Dr. Dolittle earned $29,014,324 across 2,777 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at the box office, the best debut for a 20th Century Fox film that week.
The site's critics consensus reads, "Doctor Dolittle finds some mirth in the novelty of wisecracking critters, but this family feature's treacly tone is made queasy by a reliance on scatological gags that undercut the intended warmth".
Club wrote: "Murphy is stuck playing second fiddle to the film's menagerie of nutty animals, he makes an engaging straight man.
[16] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 and wrote: "Too many adults have a tendency to confuse bad taste with evil influences; it's hard for them to see that the activities in Doctor Dolittle, while rude and vulgar, are not violent or anti-social.