Sometimes people irk me. More specifically are those people who, when in reference to some of the recent animated features, say things like "Oh it's such a great film, because, not only do the kids love it, it's funny for adults as well! (yay for us!)" This irks me because adults and kids alike have always been able to appreciate a well-made animated feature. So while I do hate this growing trend -one that has seen studios offering "condolences" to parents who drag concession-hungry children to see their movies by using two-tiered, age-discriminating humor (I guess so parents can nod knowingly to each other over the heads of their kids, while receiving these studio "winks", as if to say " They didn't get that one, but we sure did -it's because we're OLDER.")- I do feel the need to point out that Nemo is not the first fish to reference popular culture to adults.
Enter Teacher's Pet, Disney's hand-animated feature (released on the heels of the announcement that it is shutting down its Florida animation studio) based on the popular kids series about a dog named Spot (Nathan Lane) who wants nothing more then to become a boy. With its skewed color pallet, course lines and surrealistic characters and environments, creator Gary Baseman offers us a visually stimulating experience one that provides a refreshing (if not nostalgic) breather to a genre on the verge of becoming sterilized by computers.
However, it takes a lot more then just strong visuals to form a well-crafted animated feature and Teacher's Pet is a prime example of why. Written by former Cheers scribers Bill and Cheri Steinkellner and directed by first-timer Timothy Bjorklund, the humor in Teacher's Pet falls almost completely flat. By attempting to appeal simultaneously to adults and kids alike, they have taken a potentially strong premise for either audience and turned it into a convoluted mess that succeeds only in its ability to bring generations together through boredom. This is supposed to be a kids film -I don't need to explain to my four-year old niece why Spot is now a middleaged man hitting on moms and shacked up in some sleazy motel- if they wanted "edgy" then they should have pitched it to Matt Stone. Sh*t or get off the pot I say.
Reviewed by Shaun English
Enter Teacher's Pet, Disney's hand-animated feature (released on the heels of the announcement that it is shutting down its Florida animation studio) based on the popular kids series about a dog named Spot (Nathan Lane) who wants nothing more then to become a boy. With its skewed color pallet, course lines and surrealistic characters and environments, creator Gary Baseman offers us a visually stimulating experience one that provides a refreshing (if not nostalgic) breather to a genre on the verge of becoming sterilized by computers.
However, it takes a lot more then just strong visuals to form a well-crafted animated feature and Teacher's Pet is a prime example of why. Written by former Cheers scribers Bill and Cheri Steinkellner and directed by first-timer Timothy Bjorklund, the humor in Teacher's Pet falls almost completely flat. By attempting to appeal simultaneously to adults and kids alike, they have taken a potentially strong premise for either audience and turned it into a convoluted mess that succeeds only in its ability to bring generations together through boredom. This is supposed to be a kids film -I don't need to explain to my four-year old niece why Spot is now a middleaged man hitting on moms and shacked up in some sleazy motel- if they wanted "edgy" then they should have pitched it to Matt Stone. Sh*t or get off the pot I say.
Reviewed by Shaun English