OxfordPress.com

Grade: B+

Verdict: Not only cuter than your average bear movie but a delight for animal lovers of all ages.

Details: Starring Eddie Murphy and the voices of Steve Zahn, Lisa Kudrow and Norm Macdonald. Directed by Steve Carr. Rated PG for profanity and crude humor. One hour, 27 minutes.

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Review: It's not as clever as “Shrek” or as action-packed as “Atlantis,” but for my money, “Dr. Dolittle 2” wins the prize for most charming kid flick of the summer.

It's very pleasant, very sweet and very funny. Sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.

For anyone who missed Eddie Murphy's first “Dr. Dolittle” — and not many of you did given that it grossed $144 million — here's all you need to know: Dr. Dolittle, played by Murphy at his most appealing, can talk to the animals. And they talk back.

As the sequel begins, his gift has made him world famous — in the animal world as well as in the human one. He leads a self-help group for dogs without owners (sort of Strays Anonymous) and gives sex counseling to giant tortoises at the San Francisco zoo.

Of course, all this furry fuss is very embarrassing for his teenage daughter, Charisse, (Atlanta-based Raven-Symone from the old “Cosby Show.”) After all, what is her new boyfriend Eric (recording artist Lil' Zane) going to think when a possum drops by for a chat with her dad?

The possum is an emissary from the Godbeaver who needs Dolittle's help in saving his territory from the usual greedy developers. But the doc and his lawyer wife (Kristen Wilson) have a strategy — they can stop the developers if they can find an endangered species protected by the law living in the forest. And they do. She's Ava (voice by Lisa Kudrow), a PacificWestern Bear. The problem is, Ava is the only bear there. Dolittle needs to find her a mate so there will be lots of little Pacific Western Bears.

That's how he ends up playing matchmaker for Ava and Archie, (Steve Zahn), a citified circus bear. Archie's resume includes three years of tap and a fine polar bear imitation, but says nothing about foraging for food or hibernation. “I'm supposed to go into a small dark hole and sleep for six months?” Archie asks when Dolittle explains the concept. “Sounds like depression to me.”

Will Archie ever become the bear Ava wants him to be? Think “When Harry Met Sally,” only furrier. Director Steve Carr is not your typical family-film guy. His background is in music videos and the popular but hardly kid-friendly “Next Friday.” Yet Carr turns out to be a good choice. He manages to jazz things up, while still respecting the picture's old-fashioned fantasy. Even so, parents should be aware: there are a couple of needlessly salacious lines (but not as many as in the first picture) and there's plenty of everyone's favorite — that good ol' body-fluid humor.

The animals have most of the good lines — and the neat voices. Along with Zahn and Kudrow, who are both delightful, you'll hear Norm McDonald, “Traffic's” Jacob Vargas, Andy Dick and Michael Rapaport. Still, Murphy is the one who holds things together. He's enjoying himself, not pushing to be hip. When Archie is reluctant to try the Outward Bound program Dolittle is proposing, Murphy sweet-talks him, promising him he'll “be bigger than Pooh.”

I don't want to oversell “Dr. Dolittle 2”; it's no “Spy Kids.” But it's refreshing to see a kid movie that doesn't mind being as silly as it is clever and doesn't resort to over-stimulation to keep the tots' attention. It's a comfort zone in the midst of all the summer noise.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, (none)