As soon as it appeared that Robert Downey Jr. had burned his bridges in Hollywood, however the final 20 years proved that everybody will get a second probability. After dependancy and substance abuse led the actor down a darkish and harmful route, he turned his life round, slowly built-in himself again into studio films after which landed the gig of a lifetime as Tony Stark within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nonetheless, after leaving the MCU, Downey Jr. proved that not every little thing he touched turned to purple and gold by showing within the critically panned Dolittle. 5 years later, Downey Jr. is heading again to the MCU and Dolittle is in some way scoring a win on the Netflix streaming chart.
Launched in 2020, Dolittle was a film that many individuals wished had been scheduled to reach a couple of months after its January launch, when it might have been misplaced to the Covid pandemic. As an alternative, the film acquired an enormous theatrical launch that suffered a reported lack of as much as $100 million, scored 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was nominated for a number of Golden Raspberry Awards. One of many many scathing opinions, by Tara Brady of the Irish Occasions, referred to as it “the low-point of each single profession concerned.” Contemplating Downey Jr. – who, let’s keep in mind, was paid $20 million for the film – was joined by an enormous forged together with Tom Holland, Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Antonio Banderas, Marion Cotillard, and Octavia Spencer, that’s some assertion of simply how unhealthy the movie was acquired.
Even Downey Jr. admitted in a 2023 interview with New York Occasions Journal that maybe the issue was that he got here out of his Marvel stint feeling “bulletproof.” He mentioned on the time:
“I completed the Marvel contract after which unexpectedly went into what had all of the promise of being one other huge, enjoyable, well-executed potential franchise in Dolittle. I had some reservations. Me and my group appeared a bit too excited concerning the deal and never fairly excited sufficient concerning the deserves of the execution. However at that time I used to be bulletproof. I used to be the guru of all style films.The second most necessary movie [I’ve done in the last 25 years] was Dolittle, as a result of Dolittle was a two-and-a-half-year wound of squandered alternative. After that time — what’s that phrase? By no means let a superb disaster go to waste. We had this reset of priorities and made some adjustments in who our closest enterprise advisers have been.”
Is ‘Dolittle’ Getting a Second Probability Due to Netflix?
Dolittle just isn’t the primary field workplace flop to be given an surprising second life on streaming, and Netflix has been answerable for loads of second wind redemptions over the past a number of years. Presently, Dolittle is at quantity 5 on Netflix’s international film chart though it isn’t out there on the platform within the U.S.
Naturally, Dolittle is a film that wished to entertain a household viewers, and plenty of agreed that the movie was nice for teenagers. That was mirrored within the 76% viewers rating, which was far more accommodating for the movie not being nice however actually not deserving the hate it acquired from critics.
The primary consensus round this tackle Hugh Lofting’s Physician Dolittle is straightforward: don’t give it some thought an excessive amount of and revel in it as a easy, light-hearted film for younger and previous to take pleasure in. If it isn’t your factor, then there are a number of different variations of the Dolittle story to be discovered, together with Eddie Murphy’s 1998 model and the 1967 Rex Harrison traditional, which itself suffered a poor 29% rating from critics. Perhaps the Physician’s adventures simply actually do not translate nicely to the display.
Supply: Flix Patrol

Dolittle
- Launch Date
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January 1, 2020
- Runtime
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101 Minutes