Today we review another guilty pleasure of mine, Teacher's Pet. The movie tells the story of a blue dog named Spot (Nathan Lane), who dresses up as a boy each day so he can go to school and meet up with his owner Leonard (Shaun Fleming). When Leonard's teacher, who also happens to be his mom, gets nominated for a special contest in Florida, Spot hitches along for the ride. Apparently, there's a 'wacko' named Ivan Krank (Kelsey Grammar), who may have the ability of helping Spot become a real boy.
Teacher's Pet was originally a TV series created by surreal artist Gary Baseman. When he was a child, Gary had a dog named Hubcaps. Hubcaps was always so happy to see him when Gary got home, and he thought that Hubcaps would be lonely all day, so Gary created a dog character that dressed up as a boy and went to school. Gary was also a fan of Superman, and thought that it was so absurd that no one could tell the difference between Clark Kent and Superman, so Gary took the absurdity one step further by giving the character glasses and a beanie cab. Teacher's Pet ran for two seasons on ABC from 2000 to 2002. The animation house behind Teacher's Pet (both the movie and the TV series) was Walt Disney Television Animation, the studio that previously did shows like Duck Tales, Recess, and Kim Possible, and eventually, Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, and Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Teacher's Pet got really good reviews when it premiered, but was a box-office failure.
Now what do I think of Teacher's Pet? Well, I absolutely adore it! The story is well-written, the jokes are witty, and Nathan Lane is perfect as the voice of Spot. The only complaint I have is the songs. While some of them are catchy, most of them are less than two minutes long. Nevertheless, Teacher's Pet is an enjoyable movie for the entire family, and, in my opinion, deserved to get nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature instead of Shark Tale.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment