Nathan Lane hams it up beautifully in this animated film version of the Disney/ABC TV series. He provides the voice for Spot, a talking dog who longs to be a boy so much that he even dresses up as one so he can accompany his owner Leonard (Shaun Fleming) to school, where he gets the best grades in the... [More]

Nathan Lane hams it up beautifully in this animated film version of the Disney/ABC TV series. He provides the voice for Spot, a talking dog who longs to be a boy so much that he even dresses up as one so he can accompany his owner Leonard (Shaun Fleming) to school, where he gets the best grades in the class. Fast-paced fun abounds here, with plenty of sly humor geared to the parents in the audience. The truly strange storyline follows Spot down to Florida where he gets himself genetically transformed into a human at the hands of controversial "wacko," Dr. Crank (Kelsey Grammar). The trouble is, he becomes a man, not a boy, and the lunacy reaches peak heights when Leonard's mom falls in love with the new dog-man. This creates all sorts of bizarre emotional havoc for Leonard, as he realizes his own pooch might become his step-dad. Meanwhile Dr. Crank is in hot pursuit, determined to take "Spot" with him on a world tour. There's plenty of zippy, irreverent musical numbers, and it all goes speeding by so fast and fresh it's nearly impossible to catch all the details in one viewing. The animation bursts off the screen in bright colors. Lane is consistently inventive and hilarious. And the supporting voices are all terrific--Paul Reubens plays one of Crank's earlier experiments gone wrong (a dim-witted alligator boy), and Barry Stiller plays a tough-talking parrot. [Less]