Toothless (film)
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| Toothless | |
|---|---|
| Approx. run time | 92 mins. |
| Genre | Television movie |
| Written by | Mark S. Kaufman |
| Directed by | Melanie Mayron |
| Produced by | Joan Van Horn |
| Starring | Kirstie Alley Dale Midkiff |
| Editing by | Henk van Eeghen |
| Music by | David Michael Frank |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Release date | October 5, 1997 |
Toothless is a 1997 children's fantasy television movie that first aired as part of The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The movie opens with Dr. Katherine Lewis (Kirstie Alley) sharing her memories of going to see her dentist, Dr. Green, as a little girl, something she always enjoyed. Her father was a dentist in his time (as was her grandfather and great-grandfather, whom she claims performed dental work on Abraham Lincoln) and she aspired to become one too. She would always have perfect teeth.
Years later, Katherine grew up to be a dentist herself. She was very happy with her career, but equally unhappy with her social life. Dr. Green had since died and her best (and seemingly only) friend, Mindy, was married and happy. Katherine remained a bachelorette, and turned down every man who pursued her, indicating an inability to allow herself to love anyone; she appears to be wrapped up in her own uneventful life and ignores those around her, particularly the receptionist at her office.
One day, Katherine is walking to the bank to deposit a few checks during a rift in her schedule and she sees her friend Mindy across the street. As she is waving to her, she is accidentally knocked onto the road by a bike messenger and is struck by an oncoming car. Katherine awakens and finds herself in an area called Limbo, a place referred to being between Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell. The receptionist of Limbo reveals to Katherine that she has died and that she must find her case worker for further instruction. A strict supervisor of Limbo named Rogers (Lynn Redgrave) comes along and reveals that when someone dies, if he or she had not performed good deeds on Earth, then they must perform community service as a mythological being in order to go to Heaven. If they fail, they go to hell. After looking through the book of former dentists' choices of community service options, she decides on "Bicuspid retrieval," which she does not realize until she signs her contract is the Tooth Fairy. She is then trained by a worker named Raul on how to perform her service.
Rogers shows Katherine to her office, which contains a non-working telephone, a television that shows her children who lose their teeth, and a vintage typewriter that automatically dictates the names and locations of said children.
On her first night on the job, Katherine visits a boy named Bobby Jameson (Ross Malinger). As it turns out, children who have at least one baby tooth can see her, while those who have lost all of their baby teeth cannot, as the loss of baby teeth represents the loss of innocence required to see paranormal beings. Bobby seems to be very angry for some reason and is rude to Katherine; she changes his tooth into a silver coin with her wand and leaves, while Bobby is somewhat convinced that he is dreaming. The next day when Bobby is at school, a bully named Jeff punches him and knocks another of his teeth out. Katherine comes to visit him again that night and discovers that Bobby's mother has died of cancer and his father is always busy at work on real estate. She decides to help him and the other children at his school with their problems, which lands her in trouble with the higher-ups in Limbo, as revealing herself to living humans is a grievous infraction; when she is found out, Katherine stands before the Council of Judges (all of whom are named Joe) who tell her that her access to Heaven has been denied due to an overflowing tooth bank, 47% retrieval and an all time high approval rating, but she is let off with a warning. Katherine feels that the needs of the children are greater than hers and asks for Raul's help in making her visible to the children's parents and the school principal so that she can prove that she is real and that Bobby is not insane.
Katherine succeeds in becoming visible to the adults (she had to let her guard down, and when she shared an emotional hug with Bobby who she had come to love, it caused her to become visible) and is found out yet again by Rogers, who comes with Raul to drag her back to Limbo, where she is condemned to hell. She begins her descent in a boiling rain, but suddenly finds herself back on Earth. She learns from Raul that not only she was dreaming but has been given a second chance at life and that she should "make the most of it." She figures that her father used his connections in Limbo to get her a second chance as she learned her lesson (she was afraid of loving anyone in case she lost them as she lost her father – but helping Bobby helped her out).
Katherine returns to her job with a newfound love of life. She finds Bobby, a new patient, waiting for his appointment with her; she explains what happened and goes on to live her life fully. After she removes Bobby's last baby tooth, though, all of his memories of her as the Tooth Fairy are brainwashed, and she's saddened that he no longer knows her. His father recognizes her from when she turned visible, and she asks him and Bobby to go to a baseball game with her and they accept...indicating that she will likely end up being with Bobby's father.
[edit] Cast
- Kirstie Alley – Dr. Katherine Lewis
- Dale Midkiff – Thomas Jameson
- Ross Malinger – Bobby Jameson
- Daryl Mitchell – Raoul
- Kathryn Zaremba – Carrie
- Marcus Toji – Trevor
- Melanie Mayron – Mindy
- Lynn Redgrave – Rogers
- Eileen Brennan – Joe #1
- Kimberly Scott – Gwen
- John P. Connolly – Dr. Green
- Catlin Adams – Carrie's Mom
- Patrick Kerr – Mr. Wood
- Jake Richardson – Jeff
- Zack Duhame – Kent
- Arjay Smith – Phil
- Joel Swetow – Joe #2
- Kaley Cuoco – Lori
- Augie Amarino – Man in Hellavator
- Stephen Spacek – Bike Messenger
- Thomas Crawford – Cupid
- Candy Trabuco – Photographer
- Gregory Hinton – Tiny
- Lindze Letherman – Molly
- Helen Slater – Katherine's Mom
- Lewis Smith – Young Hot Guy
- Yeardley Smith – Gatekeeper
- Joel Brooks – Principal Norris
- Keaton Savage – Little Boy (uncredited)
