Eddie Murphy returns as the doctor who can talk to animals, in Dr Dolittle 2, the sequel to the blockbuster 1998 comedy.

This time, it's Dolittle versus Darwin in the ultimate man vs nature showdown, in the midst of the animal kingdom's first strike.

The famous doc now has more patients - two-legged and four-legged - than he can handle.

And to complicate matters further, his animal friends want his help to save their forest from unscrupulous human developers.

Dolittle concocts a plan to save the forest by finding an endangered species protected by the law.

He discovers a lone endangered Pacific Western Bear, Ava, living in the condemned forest.

But she needs a mate - and Dolittle thinks he has found one in Archie, a city-dwelling, wise-cracking, fast food-loving, circus performing bear.

Dolittle and his dog Lucky head to the forest to try to teach Archie the ways of the wild.

Unfortunately, it is hardly love at first sight for the mismatched bears, as Ava is unimpressed by Archie's bumbling antics.

Will Dolittle's animal friends start walking picket lines? Can he come up with the right prescription to bring Ava and Archie together, and save the forest?

It goes down to the wire, as Dolittle and company give the money-hungry land-grabbers a taste of real bargaining power - wilderness style.

In 1998, Dr Dolittle delighted audiences young and old with its comic reinvention of Hugh Lofting's classic children's stories about a kind-hearted doctor who has the ability to converse with animals.

Eddie Murphy's comic talents put a fun and edgy spin on the character, and the film employed computer-generated special effects to give each character a unique personality.

The film grossed nearly 300 million dollars at the box office worldwide, so it was no surprise that Murphy was asked to do another Dr Dolittle movie.

Murphy's own children were another incentive for him to revisit the role, as he explains: "My kids loved my first Dolittle film so much.

The film reminded them and me of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, where people and animals talk to each other.

I think that's part of the reason my kids, and young people all over the world, responded so strongly to Dr Dolittle."

The sequel allows the filmmakers to examine how Dolittle's talents affect his family and his animal friends.

"Our first Dolittle was about him realising that he has this gift and how he comes to grips with it," says Murphy.

"Now that the world knows he can talk to animals, how is it going to change his relationship with his family, and how is he going to use his special talents?"

Kevin Pollak and Jeffrey Jones co-star as the devious land developers, while the cast also includes more than 250 four-legged members, ranging from wolves and possums to giraffes and raccoons.

But one animal, making his big screen debut, stood out - Tank, a 7ft tall, 800 pound bear, who beat more than 50 rivals for the role of Archie, the would-be saviour of the endangered forest.

"Tank really is special," says producer John Davis.

"It was sometimes difficult to realise that he was a bear, and not human."