Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts (2009): Maya Dolittle Goes Hollywood

In Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts, Maya Dolittle trades a veterinary classroom for a Los Angeles television set. The 2009 family comedy follows Maya (Kyla Pratt), who inherited her father’s gift for talking to animals, as she is lured into Hollywood by a celebrity starlet. The film was the fifth and last Dr. Dolittle picture released by 20th Century Fox before the 2020 reboot.

It never played in theaters. Like Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief (2008), it went straight to DVD, with a home-video release in May 2009 from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The premise: a gift that gets noticed

Maya is headed for veterinary school but is tempted to skip the training, since she can simply ask her patients what is wrong. She is spotted helping animals and noticed by Tiffany Monaco (Tegan Moss), a Hollywood star. Tiffany brings her to Los Angeles to help with a depressed Chihuahua.

The glamour soon pulls Maya toward a TV show of her own. Her faithful dog Lucky helps her see past the glitz and stay committed to helping animals. The film’s moral is plain: listen to animals, and don’t use them as props.

Along the way Maya meets a young man named Brandon (Brandon Jay McLaren), who has a dog of his own, a Shetland sheepdog named Emmy. Back in Los Angeles, her friend Monkey is looking for his big break. The film cuts between the human and animal storylines, as the series always had.

Behind the camera

Alex Zamm directed. The screenplay was written by Daniel Altiere and Steven Altiere, and the film is based on Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle stories. John Davis and Brian Manis produced, and Davis Entertainment was the production company. Davis had been behind the Murphy-era Dolittle films, so the series stayed with the same producer.

The film’s glossy Hollywood setting suited a low-profile home-video release. Tabloid reporters, studio executives and a pushy network are easy targets for a children’s comedy, and the film uses them as such.

The ensemble

Pratt carries the film as Maya, a role she had held since she played the character as a child in the Eddie Murphy films. Murphy and Raven-Symoné, who played Charisse, do not appear in Million Dollar Mutts, though they are mentioned. Karen Holness plays Maya’s mother, Lisa Dolittle, and Judge Reinhold plays a network executive. Sebastian Spence appears as Chad Cassidy.

The animal voices carry much of the comedy. Norm Macdonald voiced Lucky the dog, and Pratt and Macdonald appeared in all five films of the Fox series. Other voices include Pauly Shore as an orange tabby cat, Fred Stoller as a rabbit called Fluffernufferman, Vicki Lewis as a pig named Chubster, Phil Proctor as Monkey and Jaime Ray Newman as Emmy the sheepdog.

Reception

The film got little critical attention, as direct-to-video sequels usually do. A review on Rotten Tomatoes rated it 2.5 out of 5, saying Pratt had made the character her own but that meeting famous people only takes the story so far. That fits the franchise as a whole, whose films have been met with poor to mixed reviews. The 1998 original holds a 44% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the 2020 Dolittle, with Robert Downey Jr., holds 15%.

The Maya films found their audience at home, where families could rent the DVD or watch it on television. They also mark a moment when a teenage co-star of a hit comedy became a lead in her own right. In 2009, the year Million Dollar Mutts came out, Pratt also appeared alongside Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin in Hotel for Dogs.

Legacy and where to watch

For the Fox series, the film was a quiet ending. The next screen Dolittle was Downey’s 2020 adventure, directed by Stephen Gaghan, which dropped the Maya story and went back to a period setting. Maya’s four-film run, from Dr. Dolittle 3 in 2006 to this film, remains a small chapter in the franchise.

The character is not finished. An animated feature, Doctor Dolittle: King of the Wild, entered production in 2026, according to Variety. It comes from Sycamore Studios and Reel FX Animation Studios and is directed by Timothy Reckart, with a screenplay by Cal Brunker and Bob Barlen. No release date has been announced.

As of August 2026, Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts was not on a subscription service in the United States. It can be rented or bought digitally from Amazon Video, the Apple TV Store and Fandango At Home, and on disc.

The header image is an AI-generated illustration, not an actual photo or film still.