Move over, Lion King and Avenue Q. There's a new puppet musical coming your way. Is there room for a third? Sure, why not? OK, Doctor Dolittle lacks Lion's sophisticated splendor, and hasn't Avenue's droll tartness. But it has charms of its own.

Let's start with those puppets, which are a group effort — the program credits Michael Curry (puppetry), Kenneth Foy (scenery and animal designer) and Ann Hould-Ward (costumes, animals and masks). You see, the puppet figures are manipulated by similarly costumed actors who are in full view of the audience. If it sounds confusing, it's not — in fact, it's delightful. The larger animals — especially the singing-and-dancing pushmi-pullyu — make the biggest effect, but I also liked Polynesia the parrot, who flies with the greatest of ease and sounds like Angela Lansbury.

There is, of course, also an ensemble of human characters. Tom Hewitt is an appealing Doctor D, with just the right distracted sweetness. (He's not at all smug and creepy in the Rex Harrison vein. Sorry, I never liked Rex; Henry Higgins or no.) As Emma Fairfax, Dolittle's feisty love interest, Nancy Anderson is chirpy and winning, as is Tony Yazbeck as Matthew Mugg. In fact, everybody is energetic and terribly jolly, which is no mean trick. It can't be easy to sing and dance and watch yourself get upstaged by a sock monkey.

That takes care of animals and actors. I'll also add that Rob Ashford provides some fun choreography, and director Glenn Casale moves everything around efficiently. (The show is wildly overdecorated, but this is Victorian England, after all.)

Ah, you are wondering — what about the songs?

The stage version starts things off right away with "Talk to the Animals," Dolittle's one bona fide hit. I wondered if composer-lyricist Leslie Bricusse had already, musically speaking, shot his wad, but the rest of the score never dips below pleasant (it never jumps above it either). The book is similarly serviceable, beginning rather oddly with a murder trial (Doctor Dolittle: SVU?), but quickly settling into the more familiar tale of the beloved, self-taught veterinarian. The show goes on a bit too long, and is not helped by an extended intermission (necessary, no doubt, for the sale of Dolittle paraphernalia).

Somehow these flaws don't matter. Oddly enough, there's something profound at the core of Doctor Dolittle. For animal-loving adults, it is deep wish fulfillment — that we could actually understand the needs and desires of our beloved pets. And the musical never loses an opportunity to remind us that kindness to all creatures is a basic tenet of humanity. Damn straight. And it's colorfully packaged here, too.