| Toothless | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Television movie |
| Directed by | Melanie Mayron |
| Produced by | Joan Van Horn |
| Written by | Mark S. Kaufman |
| Starring | Kirstie Alley Dale Midkiff |
| Music by | David Michael Frank |
| Editing by | Henk van Eeghen |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Release date | October 5, 1997 |
| Running time | 92 mins. |
Toothless is a 1997 children's fantasy television movie that first aired as part of The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC.
Contents |
The movie opens with Katherine Lewis, sharing her memories of going to see her dentist, Dr. Green, who took over Dr. Lewis's office after he died. Her father was a dentist as was her grandfather and great-grandfather, who performed dental work on Abraham Lincoln and she aspired to become one too. She would always have perfect teeth.
Years later, Katherine grows up to be a dentist herself and runs the office that her dad and Dr. Green used to be in charge of. She is very happy with her career, but equally unhappy with her social life. She is afraid of loving anyone in case she loses them as she lost her father. Dr. Green is dead and her best friend, Mindy, is married and happy. She stays a bachelorette, and has turned down every man who pursued her.
One day, Katherine is walking to the bank to deposit a few checks during a rift in her schedule and she sees Mindy across the street. She is accidentally knocked onto the road by a bike messenger. She is unable to move out of the way in time and dies instantly from her injuries after getting hit by an oncoming car. She awakens and finds herself in an area called Limbo, a place referred to being between Heaven and Hell. The receptionist reveals to her that she has died and that she must find her case worker for further instruction. A strict supervisor named Rogers 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 by heading up the Stairway to Heaven. If they fail, they go to Hell through the 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 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. As it turns out, children who have at least one baby tooth can see her, while those who have lost all of theirs can't, as the loss of baby teeth represents the loss of innocence required to see paranormal beings. He seems to be very angry and is rude to her; she changes his tooth into a silver coin with her 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 him and knocks another one of his teeth out. Katherine comes to visit him again that night and discovers that his mother has died of cancer and his father is always busy at work. 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, she 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. 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 that she can prove that she is real and that Bobby is not insane.
Katherine succeeds in becoming visible to the adults and is found out yet again by Rogers, who comes with Raul to drag her back to Limbo. Once there, Rogers has her sent to the Hellavator. She begins her descent down it in a boiling rain, but suddenly finds herself back on Earth. She learns from Raul that not only was she dreaming, but has been given a second chance at life too. She figures that her father used his connections in Limbo to get her a second chance as she learned her lesson. She then notices Rogers as a traffic cop who mouths to her that she will be watching her.
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 his last baby tooth, though, all of his memories of her as the Tooth Fairy are lost, and she's saddened that he no longer knows her. His father recognizes her from when she turned visible, and she asks them to go to a baseball game with her and they accept, implying a future relationship with Mr. Jameson.
In Limbo, people who did not use their time on Earth wisely perform community service in order to gain access into Heaven when their judgement day comes. Besides the Tooth Fairy, other community service roles include Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Cupid, Cinderella, Boogeyman, and Sleeping Beauty.
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