WATCH: Robert Downey Jr. Stars in 'Dolittle' Trailer
Robert Downey Jr. has been portraying Tony Stark/Iron Man for the past ten or so years and is now changing it up a bit. He's taking a step away from the Marvel franchise — but, just for a minute, as he's rumored to be appearing in 2020's Black Widow — to star in the family film Dolittle.
You probably know the story of Dr. John Dolittle and his ability to speak to animals, as he's been around for a while. He first showed up in British author Hugh Lofting's series of children's books (1920-1952) and went mainstream in 1967, when hitting the big screen, with Rex Harrison in the title role.
This isn't a modern retelling, though, like the 1998 version starring Eddie Murphy as the chatty doctor, but goes back to Victorian England, the setting of Lofting's stories. The recently released trailer starts off with a young girl looking for the doctor. When she finds him, he's a bit... disheveled. Even so, he's up for an adventure, saying, "We have no choice but to embark on this perilous journey."
Set to an adaptation of Louis Armstrong's song "What a Wonderful World," here's the first look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hej47fWFLQs
It might be the tear-jerker of a song, or the fact that the movie is produced by the people who brought us Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent, but this version feels quite magical. It really gets us in the gut when in the above clip Dolittle says to Chee-Chee (Rami Malek), "It's okay to be scared," as he and the gorilla are tossed about a ship at sea.
We don't quite know why they're going, or where they're going, but even so, we're up for the trip and would like to go along.
If you think that parrot sounds familiar, it's because Emma Thompson lends her voice to Polynesia. You can also listen for Michael Sheen, Ralph Fiennes, Marion Cotillard and Selena Gomez.
Dolittle will be in theaters on January 17, 2020.
Are you getting a Sherlock Holmes vibe from Robert Downey Jr. as Dolittle... or is it just us!?