Synopsis

San Francisco physician John Dolittle regains his childhood ability to understand animals after a chance encounter with a dog. As more creatures seek his help, his orderly professional life gives way to comic chaos. While treating an injured tiger and other unusual patients, Dolittle must decide whether to suppress his strange gift or accept it and use it to help both animals and people.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is a loose modern adaptation of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle stories rather than a direct remake of the 1967 musical film.

• Filming took place in California, including San Francisco, Big Bear Lake, the Big Bear Valley, and the San Bernardino National Forest. The reported shooting schedule ran from April 7 through July 25, 1997.

• The animal performers required months of preparation and training. Trainers studied each species and the temperament of individual animals, using voice, sound, and hand commands reinforced with food rewards.

• Several visual-effects companies contributed to the talking-animal scenes. The production also used animatronic creatures from Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

• The animals' talking mouths were created through frame-by-frame 2-D image manipulation designed to preserve a more realistic appearance, rather than using the fully computer-generated mouths associated with Babe.

• A brief pushmi-pullyu appears as a visual link to the original books and the 1967 film. The creature was created by compositing footage of a spotted llama filmed against a bluescreen.

• Safety procedures separated predator and prey animals during filming. For example, owl footage was recorded independently from scenes involving rabbits, birds, or rats.

• The film was released in the United States on June 26, 1998, and became a major commercial success, earning approximately $294.4 million worldwide against an estimated $71.5 million budget.