Doctor Doolittle:
This movie is a masterpiece compared to last year’s dumpster fire of a remake! Eddie Murphy is hilarious as the titular character, and the animals are given plenty of screen time and character development, unlike last year’s version where Tom Holland’s Jip was barely in the movie and was more of a fun cameo. My favorites are Rodney the guinea pig (Chris Rock) whose hysterical from beginning to end, and Jake the tiger (Albert Brooks) whose performance is worlds above Doolittle’s Barry (Ralph Fiennes).
With a PG-13 rating comes PG-13 problems including some language and sexual innuendo that hopefully goes over younger kids’s heads. Despite its issues, Doctor Doolittle is a fun movie for families to enjoy.
You know what it’s like to picture something that you want in your head so many times that when it finally happens, it’s absolutely nothing like what you thought you wanted? That’s me with Mulan. I thought the original animated film would be translate well over into live action. I thought it’d be Disney’s best remake EVER! I was wrong.
The basic story of Mulan stays the same: A daughter takes her father’s place in battle and saves China in the process. There are a few unnecessary changes including instrumentals in place of the catchy, memorable songs the original animated movie is known and the inclusion of Chi*, which is used as way to give Mulan super magical powers. Also characters like Mushu, and Li Shang are nowhere to be found; they are replaced by a Phoenix and a new love interest named Chen Honghui respectively.
The original told a better story in an hour and a half than the remake told in two. The original has a tighter story with a lot of comedy throughout the entire movie. Meanwhile, the remake is long, drawn out, and boring. There’s one scene in the beginning where Mulan tries to kill a spider during her meeting with the matchmaker. It was funny, but it was the only scene in the movie that was.
There were a few things I DID like about the remake: I liked the scenes between Mulan and her father. I thought they were touching. I also liked that Mulan was given a little sister and wish we could’ve seen more of their relationship. The villain of the movie is slightly more memorable than the villain in the original.
Mulan (1998) wins as the far more superior film when compared to Mulan (2019). There wasn’t a fair contest here. Better luck next time, Disney!
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be reviewing movies that focus on love. Not just romantic love, but familial love as well.
| *2. | n | the circulating life energy that in Chinese philosophy is thought to be inherent in all things; in traditional Chinese medicine the balance of negative and positive forms in the body is believed to be essential for good health |
2¢ Movie Reviews 