DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Nathan Land as SPOT/SCOTT Kelsey Grammer as DR. KRANK Shaun Fleming as LEONARD Debra Jo Rupp as MRS. HELPERMAN David Ogden Stires as JOLLY Jerry Stiller as PRETTY BOY Rated PG Studio: Walt Disney Pictures Directed by: Timothy Björklund Back to DVD Review Home |
 |
There’s something timeless in a story about a boy and his dog. Of course, being timeless doesn’t keep the story from being turned on its ear. “Teacher’s Pet” is a feature film based on the Walt Disney Television cartoon about Spot (Nathan Lane), a dog who wants to be a boy.
Clearly using some elements from “Pinocchio,” the film opens with a clip from the classic Disney cartoon reimagined in the unique “Teacher’s Pet” style. However, Spot’s quest to be a real boy turns out to be a lot more complicated - and a lot more bizarre - than Pinocchio’s, even without a mad whale named Monstro.
For years, Spot has been going to school with his master, Leonard (Shaun Fleming), under the guise of Scott. Of course, no one notices the coat of blue fur, the dog’s jaw, the dog ears or the fact that he has to turn around three times before taking his seat. This is actually part of the joke with the audience. “Teacher’s Pet” creator Gary Baseman (whose distinctive artwork you may recognize from a variety of sources, including the Cranium board game) admits in behind-the-scenes footage that he always found it ludicrous that no one recognized Clark Kent as Superman because he wore a pair of cheap spectacles.
When Spot discovers there’s a mad doctor living in the Florida swamps who claims to be able to turn animals into humans, he hitches a ride with the family on summer vacation. This film is like an animated theatrical musical, complete with show tunes and production numbers. In fact, the music is so dead-on in the show tune style that you might even believe the songs were written for the stage. At least they introduce them in a clever way, usually with a wink and a nod to the audience.
The cast of “Teacher’s Pet” is pretty solid. Nathan Lane does a fine job as Spot/Scott. Kelsey Grammer turns out a hilarious performance as Dr. Ivan Krank, the aforementioned mad scientist. Other excellent supporting cast members include Jerry Stiller as the cantankerous parakeet Pretty Boy, David Ogden Stires as the agoraphobic housecat Jolly, Paul Rubens as the mutated alligator and Megan Mulally as the failed mosquito-turned-girl experiment.
Of course, while Baseman’s art technique is different from much of what you’ll see in mainstream animation, it still has a familiarity about it. It has an underground comic book feel you’d see in the work of Crumb, or even some of the earlier, more rustic work of E.C. Segar and other artists circa 1920. What really makes Baseman’s style different is that it is more of a temporal enigma rather than something brand new
What makes the entire picture worthwhile is that it doesn’t stoop to banal gross-outs like so many other post-“Ren & Stimpy” cartoons. There’s plenty of warts and pimples on the subjects, plenty of eyeballs popping out of the sockets and plenty of rubbery arms and legs. But it achieves this twisted world without always stooping to the use of mucous.
Included in this DVD is a decent amount of special features, although noticeably absent is the quintessential feature, a commentary track. However, even with no commentary, there’s some nice things to check out.
The deleted scenes are kind of weak, but most deleted animated scenes leave something to be desired. Like many others, these are just storyboard layouts set to a temp voice over track. The animation was never completed, so they are very rough. But it is nice to see what they decided to leave out of the film.
There’s a comprehensive behind-the-scenes featurette that gives the background of the “Teacher’s Pet” show as well as its creator Gary Baseman. Like the popular “Lilo and Stitch” movies and series, “Teacher’s Pet” is an attempt by Disney to emulate the style of a particular animator for an entire franchise. This is why the animation is so grotesque compared to standard Disney faire. In fact, the Baseman style seems more at home in the more extreme Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon slates than the historically sanitized Disney environment.
Also included in the special features is the premiere episode of the “Teacher’s Pet” television series. It gives some nice background to the story, but it is clear that the animation grew by leaps and bounds when it hit the silver screen.
Other features include a “Teacher’s Pet” music video by “Even Stevens” alum Christy Carlson Romano. (Of course considering that the original “Teacher’s Pet” song is about a girl with a crush on the teacher, the lyrics have been changed somewhat to pass by the internal Disney censors.)
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound. Family-Friendly Widescreen (1.66:1) - Enhanced for 16x9 televisions. French and Spanish subtitles; English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
