Toothless

For the condition of being toothless, see Edentulism. For the fictional dragon named Toothless, see How to Train Your Dragon.
Toothless
Genre Comedy
Family
Fantasy
Romance
Written by Mark S. Kaufman
Directed by Melanie Mayron
Starring Kirstie Alley
Dale Midkiff
Theme music composer David Michael Frank
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
Production
Executive producer(s) David Hoberman
Producer(s) Joan Van Horn
Mike Karz (co-producer)
Terry Austin (co-producer, uncredited)
Cinematography Sandi Sissel (director of photography)
Editor(s) Henk van Eeghen
Running time 92 minutes
Production company(s) Disney Telefilms
Mandeville Films
Distributor ABC
Release
Original network ABC
Original release Sunday, October 5, 1997

Toothless is a 1997 American made-for-television fantasy film that first aired as part of The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC and produced by Disney Telefilms and Mandeville Films.[1]

Plot

The movie opens with Katherine Lewis sharing her memory flashes of going to see her dentist, Dr. Green, who took over her beloved father's office after he died. Her father was a dentist as were her paternal grandfather and paternal great-grandfather, who performed dental work on Abraham Lincoln, and she became strongly inspired to become one, too. She would always have perfectly white teeth.

Years later, Katherine grows up to become an experienced dentist herself and runs the office which her late father and Dr. Green used to be in charge. She is very happy with her career, but equally unhappy with her social life. She is afraid of romantically loving anyone in case she loses him as she lost her beloved father. Dr. Green is dead, and her best friend, Mindy, is married and happy. Katherine is a bachelorette and has turned down every man who romantically seduced and pursued her.

One day, Katherine is walking to the bank to deposit a few checks during a break in her schedule, and she sees Mindy across the street. Katherine is accidentally knocked onto the road by a bike messenger and, unable to move out of the way in time, is hit by an oncoming car and dies instantly from her injuries. She awakens and finds herself in an area called Limbo, a place between Heaven and Hell. The receptionist reveals to her that she has died, and she must find her caseworker for further instruction. A strict supervisor named Rogers comes along and reveals that when people die, if they had not performed good deeds on Earth, then they must perform community service as a mythological being with many, incredible magical abilities to go to Heaven by heading up the mystical Stairway to Heaven. If they fail they go to Hell through the cursed Hellevator. After looking through the book of former dentists' choices of community-service options, she decides on "bicuspid retrieval", which she does not realize is the Tooth Fairy until she signs her contract. She is then trained by a worker named Raul on how to perform her service. When asked about the previous one, Rogers stated that she was "fired".

Rogers shows Katherine to her office, which contains a nonworking telephone, a small television that shows her children who lose their baby 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 lonely 12-year-old boy named Bobby Jameson and is accidentally discovered by him. As it turns out, children who have their baby teeth can see her, while those who have lost all of theirs cannot, as the loss of baby teeth represents the loss of innocence required to see magical beings and creatures. He seems to be very angry and is rude to her; she magically changes his tooth into a silver coin (an American Silver Eagle) with her mystical wand and leaves while he is somewhat convinced that he is dreaming. The next day when he is at school, a bully named Jeff punches Bobby and knocks another one of his teeth out. Katherine comes to visit him again that night and discovers that his mother, Annie, had died of cancer and his father is always busy at work. Katherine decides to help Bobby and his friends 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 and a 47% retrieval rate. However, she has an all-time high approval rating and is let off with a warning. She feels that the children's needs are greater than hers and asks for Raul's help in making her visible to the parents and the school principal so she can prove that she is indeed real and Bobby is not insane. Raul is touched that Katherine is willing to sacrifice her chance to go to Heaven to help Bobby and his friends. Raul agrees to help Katherine.

Katherine succeeds in becoming visible to the adults by "letting her guard down" and showing Bobby that she cares for him. She proceeds to tell off the parents and principal, but is found out yet again by Rogers, who comes with Raul to drag her back to Limbo. They do allow Katherine to say goodbye to Bobby before taking her back to Limbo. Once there, Rogers has her sent to the Hellavator. After saying goodbye to Raul and telling Rogers to go to hell she begins her descent down it in a boiling rain, but suddenly finds herself back on Earth, having returned to life. She learns from Raul that not only was she dreaming, but she has been given a second chance at life, as well. She figures that her late father had used his connections in Limbo to give her a second chance as she had learned her lesson. She then notices Rogers as a traffic cop who mouths to her that she is watching her. This suggests that Katherine wasn't dreaming after all.

Katherine returns to her job as a dentist with a newfound love of life. She finds Bobby Jameson, a new patient, waiting for his appointment with her. She explains what happened and goes on to live her life to its fullest. After she removes his last baby tooth, though, all of his memories of her as the Tooth Fairy are lost, and she is saddened that he no longer remembers her. However, his father, Thomas, recognizes her from when she turned visible. Katherine asks Thomas and Bobby to go to a baseball game with her, and they accept, which implies the blooming of a romance between Thomas and Katherine which could result in her becoming Bobby's stepmother.

Community service

In Limbo, people who did not use their time on Earth wisely perform community service to gain access into Heaven when their judgement day comes. Besides the Tooth Fairy, other community-service roles include Boogeyman, Cinderella, Cupid, Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and Sleeping Beauty.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "Alley's 'Toothless' tops Disney's Alphabet slate". Variety. February 17, 1997. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
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