Trama

A doctor discovers that he can communicate with animals.

Dr. John Dolittle, a veterinarian, discovers he can communicate with animals. He uses his newfound ability to help animals and solve problems, but his growing bond with animals strains his relationships with humans. As he faces challenges from both worlds, Dolittle must find a balance between his human and animal connections.—Oscar Serpa

Dr. John Dolittle has the world in his hands: A beautiful wife at his side, two adorable daughters and a career that could not go better. One night, he nearly runs over a dog with his car. The dog yells "bonehead" and disappears. From then on, his childhood ability is back: To communicate with animals. Unfortunately, the word of Dolittle's ability is spreading quickly. Soon, many animals from rat to horse flock to his place to get medical advice. But his colleagues suspect he's going mad, and as the clinic Dolittle used to work for is about to being taken over for a huge amount of money, many decisions have to be made. Believe him? Put him into a mental institution? Sell the clinic? But also his family is close to breaking apart. Until a circus tiger falls seriously ill.—Julian Reischl <julianreischl@mac.com>

Young John Dolittle talks to his dog (Ellen DeGeneres), who explains dogs sniff each other's butts as a way of greeting (like shaking hands for humans), and John does so when meeting his new principal. This behavior concerns his father Archer Dolittle (Ossie Davis), who hires the local minister to perform an exorcism. When John is scared his dog attacks the minister, and his father gives the dog up for adoption. The incident greatly upsets John, and he stops talking to animals.

Thirty years later, John (Eddie Murphy) is now living in San Francisco, California. He is a doctor, married with two children, and an animal hater. His 13-year-old daughter Charisse (Raven-Symone) demands to be called Paprika, kind of like Salt-n-Pepa, and his youngest daughter Maya (Kyla Pratt) is a nerdy girl who dislikes socializing and is raising what she believes to be a swan egg so it will bond with her. Maya is reluctant to go to summer camp as the swan egg might hatch in her absence and the baby swan will bond with the first thing it sees and she wants it to be herself. She also has a Guinea Pig named Rodney (Chris Rock).

John's wife Lisa (Kristen Wilson) wants to spend time with him, while at John's practice. A large medical company owned by Calloway (Peter Boyle) wants to buy his practice. This a deal worth a great amount of money, in which one of his colleagues, Dr. Mark Weller (Oliver Platt), is enthusiastic about, though their other colleague, Dr. Gene Reiss (Richard Schiff), is skeptical about the deal due to the potential of downsizing patients and staff. John prefers to sell the company himself and work through the follow-on issues with Calloway. The meeting with Calloway is the coming Saturday, when John is supposed to be at a retreat for a family vacation.

John takes his family out to the country for a vacation. After taking the family to the country, he has to return to work to see a patient and bring Maya's pet guinea pig Rodney (who Maya had left behind as he was missing, and John found it when Rodney climbed in his bed while John was sleeping). On the way home John accidentally hits a dog (Norm MacDonald) and bumps his head on the windshield. The dog runs off, shouting "Watch where you're going next time, you bone-head!"; the first time that John has understood an animal since his childhood. The next day, John has the meeting with Calloway with his team, who presents an offer of $4 million. After the meeting, John is driving Rodney to the country and Rodney starts talking to him as well, as John is terrified of what is happening to him. During the night, an owl (Jenna Elfman) asks him to remove a twig in her wing. He obliges and the owl tells all the animals about his kind act. Soon many animals start asking favors of John. Scared and close to panic, he goes to see Dr. Sam Litvak (Steven Gilborn) for a CAT scan, but nothing is wrong with him. The next day he finds the dog he nearly hit and takes him to a kennel. Dr Fish (Jeffrey Tambor) is the veterinarian and John sees first hand just how bad he is at his job. Fish cannot understand the animal's needs and their pain, and usually ends up with the wrong diagnosis. John rescues the dog and attempts to set him free, but in a twist of fate - Maya overhears the dog's barking, and assumes the dog is a gift for her. Reluctantly, John decides to let him stay, giving him a real name: Lucky.

That night, John finds that his reputation for understanding animals has spread, and a mass of animals come to him seeking treatment. In the process, John relearns to appreciate his gift and confides in Lucky that he feels more energized about his work than he has in years. A drunken circus monkey tells the doctor about a sick tiger (voiced by Albert Brooks) who is planning to commit suicide. They find the tiger, named Jake, on top of Coit Tower planning to jump, as something in his brain is causing him immense pain. Through all this, John begins learning to re-appreciate his gift, at one point confiding to both Lucky and Mark that he has never felt excited about his work in years.

John and Lucky convince Jake, they can help him. Lisa and John's partner Mark catch him giving CPR to a rat and have him committed to an insane asylum. Lucky comes to see John and tells him Jake is getting worse, but John is angry at what has happened to him. Lucky leaves, telling John he's hiding from his true self, and John is released when he vows to never talk to animals again. At home, Maya hears the news and tells her grandfather what has happened with him. John overhears this and apologizes to Lucky. During a party where Calloway will buy the company, John and Lucky bring Jake to the clinic to operate on him. The police arrive seeking the tiger, but Lucky gathers all the animals of San Francisco to help guard the building in which John is operating on the tiger.

At the party the guests discover Jake, but John explains what he is doing and gets Jake onto the operating table as the guests watch. John's father, realizing John's ability as the gift it is, confides in Lisa he knows John truly can talk to animals, and she comes to comfort Jake as John works.

John finds out that Jake is suffering from a blood clot stuck in his head and saves his life. Calloway is impressed, but John declines his offer to buy the company.

In an epilogue, John is now both a human doctor and a veterinarian, and Maya's egg hatches, revealing it to be an alligator. John and Lucky head to the circus to visit Jake and talk about their future as friends while the song "Talk with the Animals" plays in the background.