REEL CRITICS

To producer Neil H. Moritz and the brass at Universal Pictures, a

movie about the L.A. street racing scene, complete with ultra-cool cars,

macho men, beautiful women and a pulsating soundtrack by artists such as

Ja Rule, Scarface, Limp Bizkit, R. Kelley and others, must have had

marketability written all over it. Judging by the audience at the showing

I attended, if they targeted the 14- to 18-year-old crowd, they succeeded

nicely.

Based on a magazine article by Ken Li, the picture always feels as if

no thought went into it beyond the basic concept. Vin Diesel (“Saving

Private Ryan,” “Pitch Black’) plays Dominic Toretto, the leader of what

he calls a “team” that is dedicated to illegal street racing.

As depicted here, street racing is the United Nations of illegal

activity. Every Southern Californian ethnic group imaginable is

represented.

Unbeknownst to Toretto and the rest of the racers, a new arrival named

Brian (Paul Walker), is really an undercover cop. Walker (The Skulls) is

soap opera handsome but has little else to recommend him for this role.

His performance is so stiff and forced, that it is almost painful to

watch.

Of course, Brian falls in love with Toretto’s sister Mia (Jordan

Brewster), a dead-ringer for a young Ali MacGraw. After the prerequisite

conflict with the team, Brian is eventually accepted into the fold after

he saves Toretto from the cops.

Brian has been sent to infiltrate Toretto’s team because they are

suspected of perpetuating a series of truck hijackings involving valuable

electronic equipment. He is part of a task force of local police and FBI

that have commandeered Elizabeth Taylor’s former house for the duration

of the investigation (don’t ask).

The pressure is really on to solve this case before the truckers take

things into their own hands. I guess we’re to assume whoever it is that

represents all truckers holds regular discussions with the FBI.

The well-staged truck hijackings and street racing scenes are fun to

watch and the automotive tech talk sounds right. However, I would have

enjoyed these scenes more if I didn’t have to sit through the insipid

story to see them.

Vin Diesel commands every scene in which he appears, as always. He

exhibits an effortless masculinity that most male leads can’t approach.

If he is ever given the right part, Diesel should become a major star.

The rest of the cast does a passable job. Unfortunately, Michelle

Rodriguez as Toretto’s girlfriend is completely under utilized. Rodriguez

does little more than posture and look tough in this movie. After a

breakthrough performance in last year’s “Girlfight,” it was especially

disappointing to see her have nothing to do here.

If thrilling street races and preposterous truck hijackings are all it

takes for you to part with your hard-earned money, then “The Fast and The

Furious” is for you. If you do go, make sure and stay all the way

through the credits. For some inexplicable reason, director Rob Cohen

has decided to insert a key scene here that won’t be seen by 90% of the

audience.

* VINCENT A. (VAN) NOVACK, 48, is the director of institutional

research at Cal State Long Beach.

‘Doolittle 2’ does little the second time around

The wacky “Dr. Dolittle 2” is at theaters now. In it, Eddie Murphy

reprises his role as the doctor who can talk to animals.

The Plot: A forest is about to be demolished by loggers -- destroying

animal’s homes -- and it is up to Dolittle to come up with a way to

prevent it. One solution involves having the doctor pull a reverse

Pygmalion. He has to teach a citified, circus bear (voiced amusingly by

Steve Zahn) how to become wild and survive in the forest, in order to

procreate with another bear (voiced quirkily by Lisa Kudrow). The union

and offspring of these two bears would seal the forest as a refuge for

endangered species.

Some not-so-subtle comparisons are made between animals in captivity

and the oppression of teen youth as Dolittle’s oldest turns 16. Dolittle

struggles to maintain the love and trust of his family while standing up

to do what’s right for nature. It is difficult to imagine Murphy as the

father of two teen children.

In the movie, Murphy at times seems like a 16-year-old who wakes up to

find he has a 16-year-old. Perhaps this is intentional. His portrayal of

the good doctor is very reserved yet there are occasions when elements

of the Klump family leak into his characterization. Murphy’s overall

modest performance allows the animals to upstage him frequently.

Other amusing celebrity voice-overs highlight the film including:

Norm MacDonald as Lucky the family’s dog, who is also the tale’s

narrator, Andy Dick as a weasel and Michael Rapaport as a raccoon. The

bad guy, played by a very Epicurean Jeffery Jones is just right, while

scripting the talented and underused Kevin Pollack, as the antagonist’s

sidekick is overkill.

The special effects are fairly well done. There were only a handful of

digitally mismatched mouth movements, and unusual gestures that

momentarily interfered with my suspension of disbelief. The only other

distraction came from the soundtrack’s heavy-handed use of rap music.

Even with the teenage romance subplot, hip-hop references and the fact

that recording artist Lil’ Zane is in the cast, it would have been

refreshing to see a film featuring African Americans that was not

obligated through stereotype to have a predominantly rap and R&B; score.

Music video veteran and “Dolittle 2” director Steve Carr could have

opted to use composer David Newman more.

This is a fun film for the whole family to see together at a matinee

after lunch. Why after lunch? First, don’t pay the evening price. Second,

due to the measurable amount of animal waste jokes, references and

visuals you probably don’t want to spend your mealtime hearing your

children reminisce about “that dog that peed” or “the bear that . . . “

you can fill in the blank. If you have not had enough of the cute and

spunky animals after the film, check out the “Dr. Dolittle 2” Web site at

o7 https://www.doctordolittle2.com/f7 for more creative voice-overs

and information.

In the “Production Notes” off the official Web site, I noticed that

the producers go out of their way to explain the wonderful working

conditions created for the trained animals (such as Tank the bear).

Perhaps they realize the hypocrisy inherent in creating a story about the

evils of animal exploitation and then exploiting animals in order to

tell it.* RAY BUFFER, 31, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.