Teacher's Pet.
If you recall what I said back in my Ducktales the Movie review, I watched a lot of Disney Channel shows when I was a kid but personally; this wasn't one of them. I wasn't very interested in it because the concept sounds a bit boring. I mean, the way it markets itself, it's telling me that a dog dressed up as a kid to go to school because he wants to live like humans. I know that I probably would have enjoyed that concept more as a child, but even then, it didn't really capture my interest. however, as a favor to a fan of mine who asked to do a list of animated films, I decided to give this a shot. Will this movie have us all be glad that we're humans instead of animals? Or does this prove that the concept is more suitable for television and something that only our dogs can watch? Let's find out.
The Story: To put it into words, it's just one big series finale in theatrical movie form; which, in some cases, is a rare instance. When you look upon other theatrical movies based upon animated tv shows like The Rugrats Movie, The Wild Thornberry's Movie, and Ducktales: Treasure of the Lost Lamp; they were all just ratings traps. But since teacher's Pet the show was cancelled more than a year-and-a-half before the film was released, maybe it's for the best here. It's about this dog named Spot who, for a majority of his life, or at least 10 months (which is 5 years and 10 months in dog years) dressed as an average child going to school, wishing to live like a human. He soon discovers that he can actually become human with the help of a mad scientist named Dr. Ivan Krank, who lives in Florida, where hos owners, Leonard Helperman and his mother/teacher Mary Lou, are going to for vacation in the summer, since the start of the movie showed them on the last day of school. However, long story short, Spot soon realizes that his wish isn't all what he expected to be and comes to realize that he is better off as a dog rather than a human. The story seems a bit weak as it is the typical "Be careful what you wish for," story. Heck, even in the theatrical poster, it says the same thing under the title. It appears as if this is more of an episode of the tv series made into an hour long, but the way it's executed actually seems like it can kind of work in a theatrical movie.
The Animation: Some of you probably don't know this, but the creator of the show, Gary Baseman, also created a board game with similar-looking styles called Cranium, which was quite popular. In the tv show, the animation seems a bit bland, like it's all one big cartoon drawing. Also in the show, the animators used cell animation which made it blander. But, to be fair, lots of animation seemed a bit bland since, granted, the show was aired from 2000-2002. Here in the movie, however, it seems like the animation was updated to a more flash-animated production, possibly to get in line with how animation was doing back in 2004. As for the character animation, there are times where it can bit somewhat over the top and can get a little exaggerated with how the characters move and stuff. Then there's the background animation, which seems to be the strongest aspect of the movie. The places that the characters are in, whether it be Leonard's home, Florida, the School, or even Dr. Krank's laboratory seem pretty interesting, along with the background animation that appears whenever the characters would burst out into song and that sort of brings excitement to the movie. If I had to make a complaint about that though, it's that it seems kind of out-of-place in this generic kids movie. My guess is that the animators wanted to get out of their element and try something new. The animation here is passable to say the least, but I wouldn't say that it is worth an Emmy-award.
The Characters: Okay, remember when I said that I didn't exactly watch the show? Well, get ready for me to analyze the characters even though I may only know of their personality due to the movie. There's the movie's protagonist Spot Helperman, a.k.a. Scott Leadready II, a.k.a. Scott Manly-Manning. You know what, let's just call him Spot, it'll make thing's easier. He's an optimistic and ambitious dog who's main purpose in life is to (cut to Spot singing: Be a boy!) and tries to indulge this by dressing up as a boy and attend school. When he hears that a mad scientist claims that he can turn animals into humans, he immediately sets out to make his dream come true. However, since he is so determined to be a human, it can also make him have some selfish and douchey quirks to him, as he often disregards Leonard's advice and when he becomes a human, he gets a bit worse, but, as I said before, he soon comes to realize that his joy in life was being with Leonard as a dog. I will admit, that is some great character development onto him, but it seems a bit generic since we've seen it happen to other fictional characters. There's Leonard, Spot's owner who wants him to give up his human ambition and accept dog life. In a way, he seems like the voice-of-reason for Spot and his friendship with him, which plays a major part in the movie, is seriously tested when Spot's ambition takes it to a new level, but he's actually executed in a quite great way that puts more development onto him than simply being a Charlie Brown-esque boy. As for the characters that were on the show that appeared in the movie some of them play a role like Leonard's mom is still the goofy parent trope who's purpose is to just be nominated for a teacher's award; Pretty Boy, a gruff parrot, and Mr. Jolly, a cowardly cat, are Leonard's other pets who are basically the comic reliefs who have their own side plot of going to Florida to save Spot and Mr. Jolly also seems to have more character development onto him; and there's also Ian Wazselewski, one of Leonard of Spot's classmate's, who is a straight-up weirdo who only plays a bit of a part in the movie, whether it be for gag purposes to spice up the comedy or to help Leonard and Spot out in one scene. As for the characters made exclusively for the film since this is basically the series finale in movie form, there are those that play a big part like the villasn of the movie. You have Dr. Ivan Krank, a mad scientist who wants to show everyone that he isn't a, quite-unquote, Whacko, by turning animals into human beings. He is a bit funny, especially since Kelsey Grammer gives off a great German-accented, but there are times when he becomes frightening and you actually take him seriously. There's Dennis and Adelle, who just Krank's minions/previous creations whose only purpose is to help him and they're mostly one-dimensional with Dennis being a dim-witted Alligator and Adelle being a smart Misquito. I guess they're additional comic reliefs, but the movie is better off with Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly filling that role. Some of the characters here seem a bit well developed, but some are mostly generic tropes that don't add in anything to the movie.
The Songs: I know this movie is a musical, but personally, I think the filmmakers only made it this for filler purposes. However, some of the songs are are somewhat enjoyable. You start things off with "I Wanna Be a Boy", which seems like an extended version of the TV Shows theme, You got "A Friend Needs a Friend", which brings in the emotion that the film has, but it's reprise seems like an improvement of it. Next there's "A Whole Lot of World in Our Backyard" which is just Spot, Leonard, and Leonard's mom just singing about the states of America while you see something that represents it. Next, there's "Small But Mighty", which honestly seems like the weakest due to how short it is and how it just serves as motivation for Mr. Jolly. There's "I, Ivan Krank", the villain song which is actually kind of catchy with an enjoyable tango tune. "Take the Money and Run" seems like actually more worse than "Small But Mighty" since it's just there for filler purposes. "I'm Moving On" is one of the better ones since it offers a look at how the characters are dealing with their respective distressful situations. Finally, we end things off with "I'm Proud to be a Dog", which is honestly the best one of them all since it delivers the moral and it gives the movie a nice conclusion. Some of the songs here are absolutely great to watch while others are a bit unnecessary.
Teacher's Pet is probably the best instance where a tv show ends in the form of a movie. Complete with a somewhat generic story, more-or-less impressive animation, a few characters with development and generic personalities, and songs that can either make you smile or make you a bit confused. I wouldn't say that it's one the best films based on an animated tv-show, but it nevertheless finds a way to make the premise that the show has work. If i had to give any recommendation, it's that you can watch this movie, but not make a big deal out of it. It sort of feels like your watching an episode of the tv show, but with more interesting scenes and honestly, that is a bit okay for it to be released in theaters instead of making a tv film or even a straight-to-DVD movie, but that probably won't save other animated film studios from that case.
Story: 6/10
Animation: 7/10
Characters: 6/10
Songs: 7/10
Score: 7/10