Robert Downey Jr. had an incredible 2019, as he got to save the universe in Avengers: Endgame, sacrificing himself in the process. It was the most memorable moment of the biggest movie of the year (and of all time) and there wasn’t a dry eye in theaters around the world. So, how can he possibly top that for 2020? Well, in Dolittle he’ll be talking in a dodgy Welsh accent to a hat-wearing polar bear voiced by John Cena.
Despite Downey Jr. being a nuclear bomb of charisma, hype for Dolittle has been extremely muted so far. That may be a result of the film’s notoriously protracted development cycle, though. Downey Jr. and his production company originally announced their intentions to adapt the classic Hugh Lofting book The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle back in 2017, with Stephen Gaghan directing and the shoot taking place in early 2018 for a May 2019 release.
But test audiences hated the movie, with the main complaint that it simply wasn’t very funny. This led to heavy reshoots, for which a new director was brought in while writers Stephen Gaghan and Chris McKay from The LEGO Movie were sent in to punch up the script. All of this led to delays, with the pic eventually being pushed back to the 17th of January 2019 (commonly regarded as a weekend on which studios send bad films out to die).
So, does this new trailer turn things around? Well, they’re certainly trying to play up the epic qualities of the movie – particularly when they’re teasing the introduction of a dragon in the final moments. But is it enough to drive audiences into the arms of Dolittle? Sadly, I suspect even the many charms of Robert Downey Jr. interacting with a cast of animals voiced by various celebrities may not be enough to right this ship. I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks, though.