Critics may have groaned when Eddie Murphy made his own version of Doctor Dolittle, but it had nothing to do with giving the original a bad name. The 1967 version of Doctor Dolittle, which starred Rex Harrison and Richard Attenborough, is about a doctor who can talk to animals as well... but it's also a two-hour-and twenty-five minute long musical. It apparently was supposed to be a film aimed at children, but it's really a movie for parents who want to torture their kids In the film, Doctor Dolittle leaves his home of England to search for the Great Pink Sea Snail, but along the way, he has encounters with Pushme Pullyu and Giant Moon Moth---I'm not making this up. The only thing that somewhat keeps this movie together is Rex Harrison's performance who does his best with subpar material. Despite the lack of commercial and critical success, Doctor Dolittle still managed to receive nine Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound, Editing, two separate nominations for Best Music, and it won two Oscars for Best Effects and Original Song. How did they pull this off? It's rumored that 20th Century Fox did a huge promotional campaign for the film in which many Academy members were wined and dined. Yes, believe it or not, the Academy can be bribed. That's the biggest reason why this movie deserves the number one spot on this list.
