ased on the popular Toon Disney television series of the same name, Teacher's Pet is the story of Spot (Lane), a blue talking dog who dreams of becoming a "real boy." During the school year, he dresses up in boys' clothing and attends class with his owner and best friend, Leonard Helperman (Fleming). Fortunately, their teacher (Rupp), who also happens to be Leonard's mother, is oblivious to the fact that her favorite student is actually a dog.
When Mrs. Helperman is selected to participate in the Teacher of the Year Awards in Florida, Leonard thinks he'll have to leave Spot behind. But Spot has other ideas. While watching television, he catches an appearance by a mad scientist named Dr. Ivan Krank (Grammer), who claims he can turn animals into humans. Coincidentally, Dr. Krank's laboratory isn't far from the Helperman's destination in sunny Florida. Using his human disguise as "Scott Leadready II," Spot hitches a ride with the Helpermans in the hope that Dr. Krank can make his fondest wish come true.
When they arrive, Leonard is disappointed to learn that his dog has no intention of ever going back to being an ordinary dog. Against his better judgment, he helps Spot find Dr. Krank's laboratory, which turns out to be a dilapidated old shack in the middle of a swamp. There they meet Dr. Krank's former experiments, a dim-witted alligator boy named Dennis (Paul Reubens) and a high-strung mosquito girl named Adele (Megan Mullally). These obvious failures aside, Spot is still a most willing subject, and Dr. Krank is eager to prove to the scientific community that he's no "wacko." He turns his experimental machine on Spot, but the unexpected results only prove the old adage "be careful what you wish for."
Not just another singing shaggy dog story
Capitalizing on the success of its award-winning series, Disney's latest animated film amounts to little more than an overblown cartoon short. That's not to say it isn't entertaining. Thanks to former Cheers scribes Bill and Cheri Steinkellner (not to mention the five additional individuals credited as "punch-up writers"), the film has a plenty of clever sight gags and amusing bits of dialogue. And whenever the ridiculously implausible plot is in danger of bogging down, there's a catchy song (11 of them, in fact) to pick up the pace.
Unfortunately, the artistic style of creator Gary Basemen (whose caricatures have appeared in The New Yorker, Time and Rolling Stone, among others), is better suited to the page, or even the small screen, than to the cinema. His bulbous noses, toothy grins and enormous, oblong-shaped heads become grating rather quickly. The look of the film has more in common with Ren and Stimpy than it does with Beauty and the Beast. One can imagine which pair would be more pleasant to spend 90 minutes with.
Still, it is heartening to see that Disney hasn't abandoned the traditional animated musical completely, even as it resorts to mining its cable network for material. The new original songs are witty and filled with pithy lyrics like "I'm a dog who's learned to keep his leg down." Lane, who won an Emmy for the role of Spot in 2001, belts out the musical numbers with characteristic enthusiasm and charm. Grammer also gets a chance to display his musical prowess in a demented tango entitled "I, Ivan Krank." Performances such as these deserve to be realized more artfully on the screen.
