January 16, 2004<\/b> | OK, I’ll admit it: When I received the invitation to an advance screening of Disney’s Teacher’s Pet <\/i>– a spin-off from a TV cartoon show I’d never watched, or even heard much about – my first impulse was to devise excuses for not attending. There were dishes to wash, carpets to vacuum, cats to neuter, a sock drawer to rearrange\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Fortunately, my sense of professionalism triumphed over my knee-jerk snobbery. Gratefully, I can report that Teacher’s Pet<\/i> is doggone hilarious. Every bit as clever and accomplished as the more heavily hyped Finding Nemo<\/i>, it virtually bursts at the seams while containing a super-sized abundance of witty wordplay, silly songs and inspired sight gags. Traditionalists will be particularly pleased by its bountiful delights, since the movie works its magic the old-fashioned way, with hand-drawn, 2-D animation of a kind that’s becoming increasingly rare in this age of 3-D computer-generated graphics. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The warp-speed feature (67 minutes of action, plus a six-minute credit roll) reunites major creative forces behind the TV series: illustrator Gary Baseman, writers Bill and Cheri Steinkellner and director Tim Bjorklund. Just as important, the movie also retains series vet Nathan Lane to voice the title character: Spot, a turquoise-blue talking dog who’s determined to become “a real boy,” or a reasonable facsimile thereof.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n For the benefit of those who tuned in late, Teacher’s Pet<\/i> begins with a recap of the TV show’s premise: Spot dons eyeglasses and a beanie cap to assume the role of Scott, a model student who attends fourth grade alongside Leonard Helperman (Shaun Fleming), his nominal master. No one – not even Leonard’s schoolteacher mom (Debra Jo Rupp) – can see through Spot\/Scott’s disguise. Which, truth to tell, is a mixed blessing for Leonard, who’d much rather have a playful dog than a competitive classmate.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n As Scott, Spot is nothing if not an overachiever: On the final day of class before summer, he earns more academic honors than any human student. But when Leonard and his mother drive off in a borrowed “Wentawaygo” to attend a national teachers’ conference in Florida, Spot is left behind with two other pets – Pretty Boy (Jerry Stiller), a belligerent canary, and Mr. Jolly (David Ogden Stiers), a fraidy-cat feline – in the care of a near-senile sitter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Fate moves its huge paw when Spot spots a TV interview with Dr. Ivan Krank (Kelsey Grammer), a ranting-and-raving wacko who claims that, through the modern miracle of DNA manipulation, he can transform any beast into a human. To be sure, Dr. Krank’s first subjects – a mosquito girl (Megan Mullally) and an alligator boy (Paul Reubens) – haven’t been stunning successes. But never mind: Spot is sufficiently encouraged to don his Scott disguise, catch a ride with Leonard and his mother – and make his way to the swampy domain of Dr. Krank.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The good news: Dr. Krank does indeed manage to effect a miraculous transformation. The bad news: No one takes into account the “dog years” phenomenon. Instead of becoming a “real boy,” Spot evolves into – well, would you believe an animated grown-up who looks a lot like Nathan Lane?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Zippily paced and prodigiously inventive, Teacher’s Pet<\/i> spins into dizzying curlicues of breakneck zaniness. Indeed, there’s something almost exhausting – and yet, at the same time, exhilarating – about the movie’s scattershot wisecracks and kaleidoscopic imagery. Credit Gary Baseman and Toon City Animation, Inc. for an overall visual design that suggests a crazy-salad mix of Tex Avery and Zap Comix, Dr. Seuss and Bob Clampett, with dashes of exuberant surrealism – singing houses, smiling suns, undulating U.S. maps – and wink-wink references to Disney animated classics. Some individual frames are so crammed with comical signage and wacky marginalia, you may find yourself reflexively reaching for a remote-control pause button to fully savor the spectacle. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 16, 2004 | OK, I’ll admit it: When I received the invitation to an advance screening of Disney’s Teacher’s Pet – a spin-off from a TV cartoon show I’d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-8844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","tag-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}