As a child, I loved cartoons, both in TV show and film format. I still do as an adult.

When I was in 5^th grade during the 2003 – 2004 school year, a movie with a wacky animation style called Teacher’s Pet came out into the theaters. It focused on a talking dog named Spot who yearned to be a real boy. But his owner, a little boy named Leonard, was against it, especially getting that dream to come true from a mad scientist, Dr. Krank. Spot turned into a human—but an adult man instead of a boy. Things did not turn out the way Spot hoped.

After seeing this movie in the theater, I felt pleased. I enjoyed the film enough that I went to go see it a second time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t—because the last showing was almost over. I did not want to see any other movies instead.

When the film came out on DVD that summer, I watched it every day while staying at my grandparents’ house. I valued it for many years.

When I was a high school senior, I fell in love with the movie again. I also discovered that it used to be a TV series, as well, on the channel, Toon Disney, between 2000 and 2002. I didn’t have Toon Disney on my TV, growing up.

One thing that bummed me about this film was how it did poorly amongst the general public. I read a bunch of negative reviews on it and disliked that because I loved the movie. In fact, I would fantasize about it having a Broadway adaptation.

However, when I rewatched Teacher’s Pet as an adult in my 20s, sadly, it was boring. I could not even finish it. That shocked me a lot, because as a kid, I was a huge fan of it.

I don’t know why it failed to engage me as a grown-up. But even though I bought it before Disney Plus launched, I probably won’t watch it on my own again.

Although many of us value cartoons we loved as kids, especially since a lot of people enjoy feeling nostalgic, some of us lose interest in the shows and movies we enjoyed in our youth. I had previously moved on from the shows I enjoyed as a child until the Covid-19 Pandemic hit. That was when I changed and regained interest in those shows again—probably as a form of regression as a way to feel good from something super stressful.