"Dr Doolittle" - insulting to rat people?

[Die Fledermaus]

So, "Dr Dolittle" is on, with Eddie Murphy.

His doctor colleagues catch him in his office with two rats, one very sick and needing CPR, which he provided. Rat saved; his rat friend happy. Humans are shocked and disgusted.

Next thing we know Dolittle has been confined to a mental hospital in a robe on medication, ostensibly as he "talks to animals". If he was talking to a kitten I doubt if he would have ended up there.

Needless to day, in this Stalinist vision of the world anyone who talks to animals might lose their freedom. I guess that is all of us.

Cute movie. though.

[Hamsters82]

Oh give me a break, insulting? If he said he was talking to rats, hamsters, dogs, cats, horses, any type of animal they would find him weird and out of his mind.

Just becasue it was rats means nothing.

[Die Fledermaus]

Give me a break. The depiction of rats throughout the movie was not good. Even Dolittle called them "vermin". If he was giving CPR to a rabbit I doubt if those people would have looked disgusted. The rats made jokes about one dying. . . and the other eating him.

At the end what looked like an owl was chasing the rats down an alley. (I know, owls don't eat rats as far as I know).

Throughout the movie the rats were depicted not as pets but as critters who live in garbage pails.

I know it is not a BIG deal, and I know they served a humorous purpose for the story, but they were generally seen as something negative.

Of course the movie itself was very good overall with a fine message, and very pro-animal.

[adoptaratcanada]

I hope the original version was kinder!

I haven't seen it like...40 years LOL but I remember it fondly!

[Hamsters82]

Oh. Well I haven't seen the movie in a long time. I remember my mother saying, Linda, that the original is the best.

[Die Fledermaus]

See it again. It is a wonderful movie. But the rats were the sleazy "joke" of the movie.

I would love to see a "Ratatouille II" in which he runs into some pet rats in someone's home living in luxury!

[Hamsters82]

That movie was on you know, on Disney last night, but we opted to watch Miracle instead.

[Die Fledermaus]

And I don't have cable, as you know!