Teacher's Pet

Plot synopsis:
Spot is a dog who wants nothing more than to be a boy, a fantasy he has been fulfilling for one year, dressing as a boy named Scott Leadready II, and going to school with his master Leonard Helperman. Leonard is looking forward to spending the summer with his dog, but Spot proudly declares "I Wanna Be a Boy". Mary Lou Helperman, the fourth grade teacher and Leonard's mother, is nominated for a "Teacher of the Year" award, and given use of Principal Strickler's Wentawaygo to travel to the finals in Sunny Southern Florida, under the condition that no dogs are allowed in the RV. Leonard sadly bids farewell to Spot ("A Boy Needs a Dog") as he and his mother depart.
Spot, along with the Helpermans' other pets, Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly, are left with a pet-sitter when Spot accidentally sits on the remote and changes the channel to The Barry Anger Show. Anger's special guest is a "wacko" named Dr. Ivan Krank, who claims he can turn animals into human beings, who happens to be located in Sunny Southern Florida. Believing it to be fate, Spot chases down the RV. Spot and Leonard meet up at a gas station. Through many quick costume changes, Spot fools Mrs. Helperman into believing that he is Scott Leadready II and that his family, en route to Sunny Southern Florida, had to return home, but he could still go with the Helpermans. Spot, Leonard, and Mrs. Helperman continue on their way to Florida, singing through all fifty states ("A Whole Bunch of World").
Meanwhile, Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly, back at home, see another episode of Barry Anger in which Anger reveals that Krank cannot turn animals into people, but rather into terrifying mutant creatures. They decide that they must track down Spot and stop him from being turned into a monster, but Mr. Jolly is afraid to leave the house. Pretty Boy assures him that they can be tough despite their size ("Small But Mighty")
Upon arriving in Florida, Mrs. Helperman goes directly to the Teacher of the Year finals, and Leonard is all ready to play fetch, but Spot has other ideas. He reveals to Leonard the real reason he came to Florida, to become a real boy. Leonard is skeptical, but accompanies Spot to Krank's lab, where Krank has just unsuccessfully tried to turn a frog human. He is ready to destroy his machine when Spot and Leonard show up. Spot tells him that his machine can't work with a frog because it's a lower life form, like his other two creatures, Dennis (an alligator-man) and Adele (a mosquito-girl), and that he needs a mammal, like a dog. Krank agrees to turn Spot human, and gives him a nickel as payment for being his test subject. Krank explains that, throughout his entire life, people have mocked his ideas ("I, Ivan Krank") and turns the machine on Spot.
Spot wakes up to find that he is indeed human—but not a boy as he expected, but rather a fully-grown man (he had forgotten to factor in dog time). Still, he is happy to be human, but the happiness quickly fades when Krank tells him that he will have to travel around with him forever to prove that Krank is not a wacko. Krank locks Leonard and "Scott" up, and hope seems lost until Ian, Krank's nephew and Leonard and Spot's classmate, shows up and sets them free. Krank grounds Ian and sends Dennis and Adele off to find his "dog-man". Leonard and Scott, meanwhile, are hungry, and Scott's clothes from when he was a dog disguised as a boy do not fit his adult body. They see a sign advertising a $100 reward for a lost dog. Scott uses the Twilight Bark to locate the lost dog, along with her four puppies that had been born while she was lost. This prompts the dog's owner to give them $500, as they brought back five dogs. Now rolling in money, Leonard and Scott enjoy a day on the town.
The two lose track of time, but manage to make it back to the Wentawaygo just in time for dinner, forgetting that in place of Scott Leadready II is a stranger who Mrs. Helperman will not recognize. Scott and Leonard quickly make up a story that this new person is Scott Manly-Manning, Scott Leadready II had to go home, and he helped him out. Mrs. Helperman invites Scott in for coffee and soon begins to fall for him. Scott presents an idea to Leonard as to how they can stay together: he will marry Leonard's mother and they'll all be able to live together. Leonard is not okay with this; Scott is his dog, not his dad. Scott tells him he's not his dog anymore. Finally fed up with Scott's stubbornness, Leonard disowns Scott as his Dog and he confiscates Scott's collar and tells Scott to leave him and his mother alone. Scott storms off, leaving everyone else lamenting the loss: Mary Lou of her "Manly-Manning Man", Leonard of his dog, Krank of his creation, and Dennis and Adele, along with Pretty Boy and Jolly, search for Spot ("I'm Moving On"). Pretty Boy and Jolly finally make it to Florida, and Leonard tells them the whole story. He comes to the conclusion that the only way he and Scott can be together is for him to go to Krank and have him turn him into a dog. ("A Boy Needs a Dog (Reprise)"). Scott arrives moments after Leonard leaves, and after getting over the shock of seeing Spot as a human, Pretty Boy and Jolly tell him that Leonard has gone to Krank's lab.
Krank plans to turn Leonard into a dog and use him as bait to get Scott back, and then he will have both the boy-dog and the dog-man. Scott arrives at the lab just as Leonard is being strapped to the table. Dennis detains Scott, Pretty Boy and Jolly, but they escape by tickling him. Scott unties Leonard and destroys Krank's machine by inserting the nickel that Krank had given him earlier into a slot on the machine marked "Quarters Only". The machine starts firing at random, turning Krank into a mouse and seemingly killing Scott, turning him into a pile of blue dust. Leonard angrily beats the machine and it fires at the blue dust and turns Scott back into his original dog form. Leonard and Spot reunite, and Spot decides that he is "Proud to Be a Dog".

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
Those gags are both audio and visual.Nathan Lane's New York City accent was funny as he voiced the lead character, "Spot," the dog who wanted to be changed into a little boy.
And - I didn't really view this as a kids movie since the vocabulary and the jokes were geared (in a non-offensive way) more toward adults.
Secondly, I am a fan of the TV series "Teacher's Pet" which concerns the exploits of a dog named Spot who dresses up as a boy because he wants to go to school.
But, this film is not only a hilarious and enchanting story to entertain children of all ages (19, since you asked), it is a love letter to the rich legacy of Disney animation.
He sees his chance with Ivan Krank (voiced over the top and beyond by `Frasier' star Kelsey Grammer) a `wacko' scientist who claims he can turn animals into humans.
This is a momentous day for Spot (or `Scott' as he disconcertingly calls himself when he's in human garb) but not so for his nine-year-old master, Leonard Helperman, who just wants a dog to play with.Needless to say, but I will anyway, Leonard and Spot become a boy and his dog again and everyone gets what they deserve, all the ingredients for a happy ending.
The songs are beautifully written with clever lyrics and, again in the Disney tradition, exist to move the story along, as it should be for all musical comedies.I would, however, use discretion in taking my family to this film.
And, ideally, there would be more in Act One to help those unfamiliar with the dynamic of the TV series, though you'll definitely enjoy it anyway.The real strength of this film is in the voice cast, including series regulars Nathan Lane (as the super-intelligent dog himself), Jerry Stiller (as the bird), David Ogden Stiers (as the cat) and Shaun Fleming and Debra Jo Rup (as Leonard and his mother, who also happens to be his teacher.
This movie offers a wider audience the chance to see what makes the show so fun to watch.The story involves Spot/Scott (voiced brilliantly by the always-great Nathan Lane) in his quest to fulfill his dream of becoming a boy.
When Mrs. Helperman and Leonard go to Florida for the NEATO Teacher's convention, Spot tags along to seek out the evil scientist Dr. Ivan Krank who is currently doing animal-to-human experiments.
While this film is a bit on the short side, the story is well told and fully developed (remember that other great movies of the past like Dumbo, Bambi, and Lilo and Stitch all had similar running times).
It just goes to show that you don't need a 3+ hour movie and technology to make a heart-warming and hilarious film.Children and adults alike will love it - there's something for everyone.
A friend needs a friend, a boy needs a dog, and Disney needs to let Gary Baseman make more Teacher's Pet!.
Teacher's Pet, Film of the Year!.
I personally feel the the Teacher's Pet to me is film of the year.
The voices are one of the best parts of the whole movie, Nathan Lane really does an awesome job as Spot, Scott Leadready, Scott "Manly" Manning.
Personally, I would take Teacher's Pet over any of those other movies that came out around that time Barbershop II, Calendar Girl, Along Came Polly etc.
(I'm not telling!)  This movie is played like a Broadway musical -- lots of "let's stop a minute and do a musical number" kind of stuff.
The truth is that this movie ranks up there with Emperor's New Groove and Lilo & Stitch as the best non-Pixar Disney movie since Lion King.The animation is top quality based on the drawings of that guy--whose name escapes me at the moment--responsible for the drawings on the Cranium games, among other things.
The songs, especially the opening number Want to be a Boy, are better than anything since Little Mermaid.The writing is far above the heads of many kids, directed just as much at adults as children.
Timothy Björklund gives us a complete box-office flop of a Disney movie.Our story follows Spot the dog on his adventure to become a boy.
This time, in feature-length form, he travels to California to visit the sane (he swears) Dr. Ivan Krank, who says he can turn any animal human.Nathan Lane plays Spot Helperman or Scott Leadready II when he dresses up like a boy.
I love Nathan Lane's voice acting, he was great in the Lion King, and is great in this, no complaints.Shaun Flemming plays Leonard Amadeus Helperman, Spot's owner and best friend.
His voice acting is done well enough, not as great as Nathan Lane's, but nothing terrible.Kelsey Grammar plays the SANE Dr. Ivan Krank, a scientist who has developed a very inept way of transforming animals to humans.
Kelsey Grammar has fine voice acting, probably from his experience as Sideshow Bob on the hit series The Simpsons.I have no complaints about this movie, it was well crafted, pretty well drawn, and I don't see why it wasn't a hit.
Nathan Lane does a great job as Spot the dog who wants to be a boy, along with fellow voices Kelsey Grammar, Paul Ruebens and Jerry Stiller.The animation is unusual (imagine the drawings on the board game Cranium coming to life), but a nice break from the perfect Pixar flicks.
The animation style is distinctively different to the traditional style of Disney animation, but still has a vibrancy and often times insane nature to it that works well to the film's advantage, and moves in such a fast paced manner that helps to compliment the film's humour which, though does consist of it's moments of eye rollers, is decent at keeping a wit to it that slides in, at the very least, some jokes that are clever enough to warrant a smirk.
Filler is not necessarily a bad thing, and even here it isn't horrible, but it distracts too much from the main story and allows less time to focus on the ultimately more interesting concepts that the main plot represents.
The exceptions to this are protagonist, Spot, played by Nathan Lane who does carry some charm and likability to make the audience interested in seeing him progress and grow as an individual, and the film's villain, played by the amazingly talented Kelsey Grammer, who has this unexpected nature to him that makes him quite a lot of fun to watch.
I also do have to give some credit to David Ogden Stiers whose voice is almost completely unrecognizable in this, albeit as kind of annoying as it can be.Final Thoughts: As a film I grew up with, it's easy to get held up on the nostalgia factor of it and talk about how strongly it meant to me as a kid and such.
Though the story easily gets sidetracked and it is quite a short watch, the animation is still smooth and popping with colour, carrying a share of decent visual elements, has a variety of song numbers, all that are energized and fun to listen to, and some well written jokes, all of which ultimately help prevent it from being insufferable to view.
It's zany, and crazy for all the right reasons...But you may just want to make sure you have another movie prepared when this one inevitably ends rather quickly.Rating: 7 Pretty Boys That Want To Be A Rooster In A Henhouse Out Of 10.
Teacher's Pet has an energy that makes it completely different from every animated film ever!
What you find when you look at the movie, however, is an auroma of cute characters, funny jokes, a touching story, and hummable songs.
Disney's new animated film TEACHER'S PET is both patronizing and extremely sloppy.Spot Helperman(Voiced by Nathan Lane, The Lion King) is a dog who longs to be a real boy.
He dresses up like a little boy and goes to school with his master Leonard (Shaun Fleming, Jeepers Creepers 2), and for some odd reason Leonard's mother (Debra Joy Rupp, TV's That 70's Show) is their teacher.
Spot wants to go to Florida to meet a wacko doctor (Kelsey Grammer) who can turn animals into humans.As I sat through this supposed "musical comedy" I asked myself, Why?
TEACHER'S PET is a 15 minute animated short with over an hour of bad jokes designed to stretch the running time.Most would probably say, "why are you being so hard on this movie?
It's designed for little kids not a 24 year old male." I say if you are going to spend large amounts of money on a film and you expect parents to bring their little tykes, and you create a film that makes even a toddler bored, I cannot go easy on it.This film has no charm.
"Teacher's Pet" is a full-length movie based on the television show of the same name.
I have never seen the show, though after watching the movie, I wouldn't mind seeing more.The story begins with a parody of Pinocchio and the scene where the Blue Fairy brings him to life.
What IS surprising is that eventually Spot learns about a mad scientist who claims he can turn dogs into people...and Spot soon learns that wanting something and having it aren't exactly the same!The art style of the film is a radical departure for Disney...and I appreciate how Gary Baseman's art style is realized in the movie.
Nathan Lane voices a little blue dog who dresses up as a boy so he can go to school in this, the latest big screen version of a Disney Channel animated series (like their wonderful "Recess" film...
In the big film story, Spot a.k.a. Scot follows his master and his master's clueless mom to Florida in his search for a mad scientist (voice of Kelsey Grammar) who has been trying to transform animals into people.
More specifically are those people who, when in reference to some of the recent animated features, say things like "Oh it's such a great film, because, not only do the kids love it, it's funny for adults as well!
So while I do hate this growing trend -one that has seen studios offering "condolences" to parents who drag concession-hungry children to see their movies by using two-tiered, age-discriminating humor (I guess so parents can nod knowingly to each other over the heads of their kids, while receiving these studio "winks", as if to say " They didn't get that one, but we sure did -it's because we're OLDER.")- I do feel the need to point out that Nemo is not the first fish to reference popular culture to adults.Enter Teacher's Pet, Disney's hand-animated feature (released on the heels of the announcement that it is shutting down its Florida animation studio) based on the popular kids series about a dog named Spot (Nathan Lane) who wants nothing more then to become a boy.
With its skewed color pallet, course lines and surrealistic characters and environments, creator Gary Baseman offers us a visually stimulating experience one that provides a refreshing (if not nostalgic) breather to a genre on the verge of becoming sterilized by computers.However, it takes a lot more then just strong visuals to form a well-crafted animated feature and Teacher's Pet is a prime example of why.
This is supposed to be a kids film -I don't need to explain to my four-year old niece why Spot is now a middleaged man hitting on moms and shacked up in some sleazy motel- if they wanted "edgy" then they should have pitched it to Matt Stone.
Sadly, the story was poorly written, the songs were boring and repetitive and the humor was just not there.The voice acting talent for Teachers pet is top notch.
It is just sad that they threw together such a sloppy, boring and un-funny script and wasted the chance to make a really great kids movie..
I wasted $7 and saw one of the stupidest movies of the year: DISNEY'S TEACHER'S PET, a concept by Gary Baseman.
It's something that if you saw it on tv, you'd flip the channel after a few seconds if you even have THAT much patience.Really quickly, the movie is about a talking dog named Spot who wants to be a real boy.
Unfortunately for families with little children, other then staying at home, they will just have to grin and bare with what is given to them  One feature this year, Teacher's Pet, should be familiar to someone as it was once a highly praised (and lowly rated) cartoon series on ABC's One Saturday Morning lineup.
But in January, as with any season of the year at the box office, there is never such a thing as a `sure thing'.The story follows an ambitious talking dog as he yearns to become a real human boy.
For almost everyday of his life, Spot has wished to become a real human boy like his owner Leonard, so much so that he has disguised himself as Scott Leadready II and attended the fourth grade for the past year.
Now that the school year is over, Spot is left home for two weeks while Leonard and his mother travel to Florida to attend an award ceremony for teachers.
The story for Teacher's Pet is pretty straight forward, simple and predictable.
Basically it is everything one expects from a low-budgeted winter family animated film, which makes it all the more disappointing.
The film ranges from being surprisingly amusing to harrowingly dull and anything in-between as well.Teacher's Pet has a surprisingly decent amount of recognizable names behind the voices of the characters, which makes it all the more baffling at why this film wasn't more entertaining for adults.
The only performer within the cast that even manages to make the more adult audience laugh is Jerry Stiller, who voices a bird named Pretty Boy. He gives a gruff voice-over that just cracks a smile on anybody's face at all the appropriate moments within the feature film.
The reason behind this may be the fact that most older movie-goers may already know who Jerry Stiller is, which may or may not make this role all the more amusing than for those who don't know who he is.Overall, younger audience members will enjoy this heralding story about a dog wishing to be a boy while younger adults will be wishing for the quickest exit out of the theater.
Teacher's Pet borders on the line of moderate animated family entertainment and Ren & Stimpy-like weirdness.
The biggest problem with Teacher's Pet is that it is nothing more then one expects going into this feature and, though it appeals to the younger crowd, doesn't present a level of maturity that many adults, parents or not, would be able to tolerate for over a hour.
Will people stop hating the movie just because of it's animation?.
I honestly don't know how people can judge a movie just based on its animation.
That's a great movie, even though the animation looks more like a Saturday morning cartoon.
Which brings me to "Teacher's Pet".I like this movie, regardless of animation!
It's about a dog named Spot, voiced flawlessly by Nathan Lane (the KING of voice-overs, in my opinion), who only wants to be a boy.
The jokes always made me laugh, the songs were either funny or touching, the actors/actresses were matched perfectly with their characters, and the story is very creative!
And one more thing: Adults will see a child's movie and say it's horrible if it's not funny or has a bad story to it.
If the kid watches the movie and likes it, laughing the whole way, then it's a good movie.
If the kid watches it and gets bored, then it's not a good movie.
Based on the Emmy-winning, yet unfortunately short-lived TV show, "Teacher's Pet" is a colorful, witty animated family comedy that would amuse even those who never heard of the series.The story starts off at summer vacation (Which is weird, since this film was released in January), with super-perky mother/teacher Mrs. Helperman taking her son, Leonard, to Florida("Jersey with palm trees") when she is nominated for a N.E.A.T.O.
When Spot is abandoned at home, he's sad, until he discovers a crazy scientist who thinks he can turn animals into people.Disguising as his school alter-ego Scott Leadready II, Spot hitches a ride to Florida with Leonard and Mrs. Helperman and finds the scientist, Dr. Ivan Krank....And the fun continues."Teacher's Pet" is a really good film, filled with the wild and weird animation of popular artist Gary Baseman.
There are also many tuneful songs and funny jokes and gags, including the "Pinocchio" parody in the film's opening.
The voice cast, which includes Nathan Lane, Kelsey Grammar, Mary Jo Rupp, and Jerry Stiller, does very good vocal talents here.Unfortunately, Disney treated this film like trash; they didn't give it a big ad campaign nor a good film release, which led this film to flop at the box office.
In the run-up to Christmas 2017 I started looking for an animated movie that I could send a family friend.
Making a note of actually getting hold of the movie,I decided that this Easter I would call out the teacher's pet.View on the film:Appearing to be inspired by the Cartoon Network shows of the late 90's/early 2000's, director Timothy Björklund draws the most un-Disney designs,with the animation having a rough & ready quality of thickly black drawn lined characters,and the colours having a drained appearance.
Playing as a feature film and as a final to the series, the screenplay by Bill Steinkellner & Cheri Steinkellner take Spot the Dog (who is nothing like the British carton dog of the same name) in an intriguingly grotesque direction,as Spot (voiced by a very good Nathan Lane) gets involved with a Dr. Frankenstein-style scientist (voiced in full Sideshow Bob-mode by Kelsey Grammer) to become a human,and then tries to get together with his owners mum.
When the movie aims for Disney slickness in the flat songs and Spot's friendship with owner Leonard plays out of tune with what the pet has been taught.