20-year Anniversary of Teacher’s Pet Movie
Today celebrates the 20th year of the critically-acclaimed film Teacher’s Pet.
A tight movie of only 74 minutes, you can stream this Baseman classic on Disney+.
The all-star cast includes the voices of Nathan Lane (Spot/Scott), Kelsey Grammer (Dr. Krank), Shaun Fleming (Leonard), Debra Jo Rupp (Mrs. Helperman), David Ogden Stiers (Mr. Jolly), Jerry Stiller (Pretty Boy), Paul Reubens (Dennis), Megan Mullally (Adele), Rob Paulsen (Ian), Estelle Harris (Mrs. Boogin) and Jay Thomas (Barry Anger).
Critics raved about this movie despite its lackluster box office performance.
“Smart and stylish, ‘Disney’s Teacher’s Pet’ is one family film that has appeal for adults as well as children. With a stellar cast of familiar voices, sharp dialogue and a clutch of lively Broadway-style songs, the film’s animation style is edgy and minimal, which imbues it with unexpected freshness and immediacy.” (Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times)
Elvis Mitchell for The New York Times called it “marvelously quick-witted and gloriously goofy hand-drawn.” Mitchell describes the aesthetics of the feature, which made both the film and the series such a stand-out from other animation projects made during that time: “One of the most wryly funny bits of the Saturday morning animated series is also in the movie: Mr. Baseman’s pop-eyed Pop Art character drawings. These drawings are so peculiar — pale, dry-ice gray kids next to children rendered in saffron-yellow alongside boys and girls with Jolly Rancher green skins — that the idea of the indigo-blue pooch Spot choosing to join them and pretending to be a boy almost made sense. Spot didn’t look any odder than anyone else in the show’s classroom.”
Michael Sullivan of The Washington Post said: “AS EDGY AS it is adorable, the animated feature ‘Teacher’s Pet’ should appeal to postmodern parents almost as much as their pups. Based on the Emmy Award-winning Disney television series about a talking dog created by Gary Baseman — an artist and illustrator better known for images of severed heads, half-naked women, leering devils and bits of floating intestine than for cuddly, toddler-friendly animals — ‘Pet’ is like the love child of Snow White and Tex Avery. It’s part sugar, part spice (cayenne, not nutmeg) and all-around brilliant.”
Directed by Timothy Bjorklund; written by Bill and Cherie Steinkellner; edited by Nancy Frazen; music by Stephen James Taylor with songs by Randy Petersen, Kevin Quinn, Ms. Steinkellner, Brian Woodbury and Peter Lurye; art director, Gary Baseman; produced by Stephen Swofford; released by Walt Disney Pictures.
