Posted: 01/22/2004

Teacher’s Pet

(2004)

by Stan Grenier

Disney goes to the dogs in their newest animated feature.

Spot (Nathan Lane) is a dog with a secret. At night he is the loving pooch to his young master Leonard (Shaun Fleming). By day he is a two-footed student at Leonard’s school. This transformation is done not with mirrors, but a simple pair of glasses and school clothes. So goes the premise of Disney’s Teacher’s Pet, a fun and witty screen version of the TV cartoon of the same name.

Spot loves acting human. In fact, he really, really wants to change into human form. He claims to be born on the “wrong end of the leash.” Happiness can only come with his leaving the canine world behind for good. Trouble arises when his canine and human worlds collide. Sound silly? Good. Silly is what it is. But it is also witty and charming with close to a dozen songs and enough adult-oriented jokes for the parents to join in the laughter.

Not to be outdone by the songwriters, animator Gary Basemen creates a magical world of images that will please the kids and keep the adults watching. Director Timothy Bjorklund creates some memorable scenes to help propel Teacher’s Pet through its quick 67 minute viewing. Some sequences might be lost on the kids and some jokes make it a PG movie, but this is definitely one for the family.

Writers Bill and Cheri Steinkeller keep the plot moving through Spot’s “I just wanna be human” quest to a subplot about a dog hating scientist Doctor Crank (Kelsey Grammer),who must be stopped before dogs are changed forever as a species.

Teacher’s Pet is movie with sharp writing and catchy songs. It’s a rare family film that is long on music and funny gags and short on length. Share the laughs with your family.

Stan Grenier lives north of Boston and is a dog person. Woof!

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