Teacher's Pet (film)
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| Teacher's Pet | |
|---|---|
 The Teacher's Pet movie poster |
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| Directed by | Timothy Björklund |
| Produced by | Stephen Swofford |
| Written by | Bill Steinkellner Cherie Steinkellner Gary Baseman (series creator) |
| Starring | Nathan Lane Kelsey Grammer Shaun Fleming Debra Jo Rupp David Ogden Stiers Jerry Stiller |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 16, 2004 |
| Running time | 74 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Teacher's Pet is a 2004 musical animated film based on the television series of the same name. The film ends the central storyline of the series.
This film was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released to movie theaters in the United States in 2004.
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[edit] Plot
When summer vacation comes to Fala D. Roosevelt Elementary, Mrs. Helperman gets nominated for a N.E.A.T.O. award has to go to Florida with her son Leonard. But the van that the Helpermans take does not allow dogs, so Spot is forced to stay home with the two other pets, Pretty Boy (a canary) and Mr. Jolly (a cat). He is very disheartened. While the Pet-sitter is watching soaps, Spot accidentally sits on the remote, turning it to the "Barry Anger show." Barry Anger interviews a "wacko" scientist, Ivan Krank, who claims he can transform animals to humans, to Spot's delight. He finds out that Ivan resides in Florida.
Spot finds Leonard a few miles out of town. Since no dogs are allowed inside the van, Spot has to dress like he does to school, as Scott Leadready II. As Mrs. Helperman sees one of her students from school, after a conversation with Scott's "family" (or, Scott in costumes,) she happily takes him along.
When they finally reach Florida, Spot/Scott admits to Leonard he came just so he can become a real boy. Leonard agrees to help find this scientist Spot/Scott is looking for. They find Dr. Crank, who is angered by another failure. His "children", mutant mosquito Adele and Mutant Alligator Dennis, assist Ivan, who transforms Spot into a human being, against Leonard's will- but to his and Leonard's shock Spot, long since past his puppyhood, becomes an adult and not a child.
Ivan Krank captures Scott and Leonard, to show his success at creating a human from a dog, but his nephew, Ian Wazalooski, comes and sets them free in exchange for a chew toy. Leonard and Scott make $500 dollars by finding a lost dog and her puppies using 101 Dalmatians' twilight bark. Scott gets some fancy clothes and rents a car and the two head to the trailer park, unfortunaltely forgetting how Scott is an adult.
Meanwhile, Pretty Boy and Jolly trek to save Scott/Spot from Krank after learning from the Barry anger show that Most of Krank's attempts make mutations. After riding a train, getting lost in Cuba, and ariving in Florida by Garbage truck, (and relieving Jolly of his outside fear,) they find Leonard.
While Pretty Boy and Jolly get lost in Cuba, the now human Spot and Leonard's mother become attracted to one another, further unnerving Leonard. He gets angry and provokes Scott to leave, Krank in hot pursuit, and the Helpermans upset. Around the time Leonard's other pets arrive, Scott's in a loser hotel and Leonard explains the whole story. Scott regretfully starts to miss Leonard, and feeling the only way to re-create his relationship with Spot is to have Dr. Krank turn him into a dog, Leonard and Scott try to return to each other, but pass each other on the way. Leonard visits the mad scientist. Spot follows Leonard to the lab and a showdown follows that turns Spot back into Leonard's dog and Dr. Crank into a mouse.
Afterwards, Spot decides to end his human identity as Scott and settle down to life as a pet. Mary Lou wins the award, and with Krank eaten by Jolly, Ian raises both Dennis and Adele.
[edit] Cast
- Nathan Lane as Spot Helperman / Scott Leadready II / Scott Manly-Manning
- Shaun Fleming as Leonard Amadeus Helperman
- Debra Jo Rupp as Mary Lou Moira Angela Darling Helperman
- Wallace Shawn as Principal Crosby Strickler
- Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Ivan Krank
- Rob Paulsen as Ian Wazselewski
- David Ogden Stiers as Mr. Jolly
- Jerry Stiller as Pretty Boy
- Paul Reubens as Dennis
- Megan Mullally as Adele
- Estelle Harris as Mrs. Boogin
- Jay Thomas as Barry Anger (spoof of Jerry Springer)
- Rosalyn Landor as Blue Fairy
- Mae Whitman as Leslie Dunkling
- Lauren Tom as Younghee
[edit] Critical and Box Office Reception
The critical reception was fairly positive, with a 76% critic rating at Rotten Tomatoes (with a 75% cream of the crop rating). Despite its positive reviews, the film was essentially a box office bomb. On opening weekend, Teacher's Pet took $484,000 in 2027 theaters, a mere $285 per theater. By the end of its run, the film had only made $6,491,350. Its budget was over $10 million.
[edit] Trivia
- This marks the first time that Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris have worked on a project together since the end of Seinfeld. Stiller and Harris played Frank Costanza and Estelle Costanza, respectively.
- During the song, Mary-Lou says that her name is Mary-Lou Moira Angela Darling which is a reference to Wendy from Peter Pan.
- When Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly are watching TV, they're watching a soap opera with the actors saying, "John!" and "Marsha!" in both English and Spanish. Those characters are voiced by Anthony Geary and Genie Francis, who played Luke and Laura Spencer on the long-running ABC soap opera, "General Hospital".
- This is the first animated movie by Disney to have Nathan Lane and Jerry Stiller, the second being The Lion King 1 1/2.
- The movie Poster resembles the 1992 rerelease poster of Disney's Pinocchio.
- This is the first movie produced by DisneyToon Studios to get a PG rating.
