A Dog and His Boy

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

In 1959, the world was introduced to a talking flying squirrel and a talking moose. The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show was an animated ‘variety’ show that acquainted millions of kids and adults to zany characters like Boris and Natasha and Dudley Do-Right. Among those characters were also Mr. Peabody (a talking dog genius) and Sherman (Mr. Peabody’s adopted son). Through their time traveling adventures, Mr. Peabody and Sherman gave audiences a satirical look at historical figures. So popular were these characters that in 2014, 20^th Century Fox decided to update the 50 year cartoon into a 3D animated feature aptly titled…Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

The first day of school does not go very well for Sherman. After being bullied by a classmate named Penny, Sherman decides to bite her.  Mr. Peabody has been summoned to the school and there threatened by Child Services that they will remove Sherman from Mr. Peabody’s care if any other incidents like the biting occur. Deciding to handle the situation politely, Mr. Peabody invites Penny and her parents over for dinner in an attempt to put any bad feelings behind them. Things take a wrong turn, however, when Penny dupes Sherman into taking her for a joy ride in Mr. Peabody’s time machine called the WABAC (pronounced the Way Back). Now Penny is stuck back in Ancient Egypt and it is up to Mr. Peabody and Sherman to rescue Penny and bring her back to the present.

For almost 20 years or so, animated films have started to broaden their target audiences to adults. By subtly inserting humor that only adults would catch on to, film studios have made watching animated ‘kid’ films very enjoyable. Mr. Peabody and Sherman is no different. The director (Rob Minkoff The Lion King) and the animators do an awesome job mixing clean adult humor and kid humor. I mean, who doesn’t like watching the Greeks ascending from the Trojan Horses’ rear end so it looks like poop?

I also loved the voice actors as well. Everyone from Ty Burrell (TV’s Modern Family), Mr. Peabody, to the always enjoyable Patrick Warburton (Family Guy), who voices Agamemnon, do an amazing job. Besides Warburton (whose voice sticks out like a sore thumb), all the actors do a great job changing their voices to fit their respective characters. I think this is good most of the time because you don’t spend the entire movie picturing that actor in your head. Not knowing who the voice is, to me, entrenches you more into the movie and character you are already watching.

This would be the part of the review that I would critique the director, but not sure how to do that for an animated film. Rob Minkoff’s resume pretty much speaks for itself. Films like Stuart Little and The Haunted Mansion have proved that Minkoff has done a great job making family film just that…family enjoyed films. Adults and children alike can enjoy many aspects to Minkoff’s films.

I would also like to take the time to praise screenwriter Craig Wright for his contemporary script. We live in a time where the meaning of family is becoming many different things. From mixed families to Gay/Lesbian adoption, family is really about the people who love each other and would move mountains for one another. That meaning of family is what is at the heart of this film, Mr. Peabody doing everything he can to keep his adoptive son or his family. This meaning of family, unfortunately, can be lost on our society sometimes.

Fun for all ages, Mr. Peabody and Sherman delivers good clean laughs and a great message. Also this film was much better than that horrendous live action Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

The Verdict: Very Much Worth Your Time.