The first film was pretty funny, and the sequel wasn't absolutely awful, and what is the one thing that is inadvisable when you can't the big leading star to do another one, a straight to DVD film, but here it is. Basically Dr. John Dolittle's youngest daughter Maya (Kyla Pratt) has grown into a teenager, and has evolved considerably gaining the full ability to talk to animals, just like her father, and despite being an antisocial individual more interested in scientific projects. Believing herself to a freakish gift, and getting in a little bit of trouble with her mother Lisa (Kristen Wilson) catching her with mischievous friends, Maya is sent with and dog Lucky (Norm MacDonald) to the Durango ranch. She is hoping there to find herself, it is owned by Jud Jones (John Amos), with his son Bo Jones (Walker Howard) by his side, and the place is surrounded by animals from the near woodlands, and of course the stable horses. While there Maya is making sure no-one suspects her of being different, giving herself a fake surname, and she tries her best but fails when animals come up to her and want problems solved or just chats. But her talent comes in very useful when a neighbouring ranch wants to take over and Maya reveals her real self, use her ability to help save Durango, she in fact gains more respect that rejection she expected. So the ranch enter themselves against their rival in the local rodeo competition to win the $50,000 prize, which of course they do, and in the end Maya gets her first kiss with love interest Bo. Also starring Luciana Carro as Brooklyn Webster, Tommy Snider as Clayton, Chelan Simmons as Vivica, Phil Proctor as Stray Dog and Drunk Monkey, Paulo Costanzo as Cogburn the Rooster, Friends' Maggie Wheeler as Brown Hen and Fluffy Hen and Gary Busey as Butch. Pratt has grown into a very attractive young woman, if it wasn't for her prancing around (forgive the pun) I may have turned off, although saying that, I was bored throughout. With its TV made feel, and the most atrocious cheesy dialogue, including from the animals with their not as interesting as maybe previously special effects, this is an absolutely awful sequel fantasy comedy. Pretty poor!

My mom put this on our rental queue, and I did some research on it while it sat there while it snaked it's way to the top of the list. It was here at IMDb that I saw Red Flags, a shortened way of saying "things that indicate that the movie you are going to see is going to be a painful experience that you're probably going to turn off to stop the pain". First off, no Eddie Murphy. Let's think about this, people: a sequel to a film whose main character isn't even present for. If the MOVIE is called Dr. Dolittle 3, I think you'd expect Dr. Dolittle to be there in some physical way. In other words, if they really wanted to waste some cash on a movie that shouldn't have been green lit but was because of a studio believing in capitalizing on franchises instead of releasing quality films, they should have renamed it. Second Red Flag: hordes of reviewers calling it a "family movie". I'm sorry people, but if you're calling it a "family movie" it tends to be a euphemism for "hokey garbage that you hope will entertain your kids for 2 hours while you pray to God for it to end". Red Flag #3, the fact that this was a straight to film release, a MAJOR sign of mediocrity/ disappointment being eminent: frankly, I don't know why production companies even release projects that are straight to video, they may as well just pull the plug on the project and get a refund much like the disappointed viewers who feel like they've been conned by the film companies. The 4th Red Flag came when it arrived and we forced ourselves to watch it. 10 minutes later, the movie was turned off: none of us could sit through it because it was horrible and you could feel the financial failure pulsating through every frame. In other words, you're getting a jaded movie review here because I didn't even bother to watch the entire feature, and I'm pretty sure you understand why.

I have to say that I did not hate this movie. I can understand the 3. rating here at IMDb, but I cannot understand the poor reviews.Kyla Pratt is awesome in this work! She is really coming into her own, AND she can sing like a bird.The script is where the fault lies. You have a bunch of kids who must save a ranch, which is going out of business. This vehicle is so overused it has become cliché, and it sure did feel old, musty, and stale, in spite of Kyla Pratt and her stellar performance.Some have suggested that they needed Murphy back for this installment to make it work. I say Murphy isn't necessary in ANY of his later films. What they needed was a good screenwriter, and producers who knew better than to approve a bucket of schlock as this.It could have been great.It rates a 4.4/10 from...the Fiend :.

It was not a bad film but the first two had more substance. Having Eddie Murphy may have made it better. There were some funny scenes when the animals found out she could talk but the dog coming from home to the ranch was a bit impossible. The one problem I had with the film is continuity. In Dr. Dolittle 2 the oldest daughter (Raven) was the one talking to the animals. They did not create a bridge to let you know how it switched to the younger daughter.The decision to release it directly on video was a good move by the producers because it was not quite as good as the first two. All in all it was an enjoyable film.