POTTY HUMOR SPEAKS LOUDLY TO KIDS IN 'DOLITTLE' SEQUEL.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

There's enough pee pee and poo poo in ``Dr. Dolittle 2'' to tax the sewer system of a major city. When a dog proclaims, ``It's time to look out for No. 1,'' you know he's not making a personal mission statement. A bear eats too much ice cream, which gives him diarrhea and makes him pass gas really loudly in a restaurant's bathroom. (Cherry Garcia is the flavor; Ben and Jerry's might want to reconsider the effects of this type of product placement.) Birds defecate on the bad guys and hibernation is feared because of probable constipation.

Kids like this kind of stuff, and ``Dr. Dolittle 2'' is very much what passes for a family movie these days. As such, it's pretty inoffensive, and a lot more palatable than the summer's other talking-animals movie, the upcoming ``Cats & Dogs,'' which equates violence, explosions and shrillness with family-friendly entertainment. At least here, when Dolittle talks to the animals, he doesn't threaten to kill them.

This sequel to Eddie Murphy's 1998 hit keeps the same tone of the first film. The humor is obsessed with bodily functions, there's a hot-button issue (in the first movie it was HMOs, now it's environmental protection) and Murphy relegates himself to playing straight man to an even larger menagerie of critters. Betty Thomas directed the first movie; here she hands over the reins to music video director Steve Carr with little lost in the process. You get the feeling that the animal trainers are the real directors here anyway.

Dolittle may be able to communicate with the animals, but as the movie opens, he's having trouble talking to his 16-year-old daughter (Raven-Symone). She has her first boyfriend, a pizza delivery driver (hip hop artist Lil' Zane) who calls Dolittle ``Pops,'' which means Eddie Murphy has come a long way from Axel Foley and ``James Brown's Hot Tub.''

It's a depressing thought, and, if you're an adult, there's not much here to cheer you up. Forest creatures enlist Dolittle to save their woods from greedy clear-cutters. To do this, Dolittle finds an endangered species, a Pacific Western bear (in case your kids ask, there's no such animal), and then attempts to mate it. Problem is, the only other such bear to be found is a circus performer, Archie (voiced by Steve Zahn), who can't swim, has no sense of smell and constantly pulls his butt muscles when running. (Archie's favorite refrain: ``Rub my butt! Rub my butt!'')

There are also talking alligators, turtles, dogs, chameleons, monkeys, possums, raccoons, beavers, rats, giraffes, fish and birds. They're certainly cute enough and visual effects supervisor Douglas Smith does a great job at lip-syncing all the gabbing. Youngsters will cheer when animals around the world strike to show their solidarity with Dolittle's forest creatures. Maybe PETA can enlist Dolittle for a third film and do something about those fur farms.

``DR. DOLITTLE 2''

(Rated PG: language and crude humor)

The stars: Eddie Murphy, Raven-Symone, Kristen Wilson.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Steve Carr. Screenplay by Larry Levin. Released by 20th Century Fox.

Running time: One hour, 28 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two stars

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Eddie Murphy tries to entice his buddy to meet a mate in ``Dr. Dolittle 2.''