Before Bill and Ted and their telephone booth, Sam Beckett and his quantum leap and Doc Brown and his DeLorean, there was Mr. Peabody, the talking dog and his boy Sherman. In the 1960's, they were a staple on The Bullwinkle Show. They took young viewers back in time and learning about the history of the world, thanks to the transportation of their WABAC machine. The 1960's were good times. Now, we live in a more innocent and different era. But are we really ready for a Mr.Peabody and Sherman animated film? The answer, my friends, is a proud yes.
Mr. Peabody (voiced by Modern Family's Ty Burrell) is a Harvard graduate, inventor of the fistbump, autotune and zumba, a genius in math and athletics, a cool musician and a top notch seafood cook. He first finds Sherman as a little baby in the cardboard box and adopts him because Peabody wants something he didn't have when he was small, a home for him and didn't want his master to suffer as a result.
In his first day of school, young Sherman (Max Charles) tells his fellow classmate Penny (Ariel Winter from Disney's Sofia the First) that her answer about George Washington chopping down a cherry tree is wrong. It then leads into a fight between them during lunch, which causes Sherman to bite Penny. Mr. Peabody decides to resolve the problem between them by inviting Penny and her parents (Leslie Mann and Stephen Colbert) to his Manhattan penthouse for a party. He tells Sherman not to tell Penny about the WABAC machine. But Sherman breaks his rule and sends himself and Penny to Ancient Egypt, where she gets engaged to King Tut. Mr. Peabody and Sherman try to stop the marriage and succeeds. On the way back to the present, Peabody, Sherman and Penny make pit stops to Di Vinci's workshop in Rome and the Trojan War. But, along the way, there are some complications which causes the time cycle to break and bring the figures of the past to the present.
This is a giddy, heartfelt, laugh-out-loud-funny, guilty pleasure with something for everyone. It's faithful to the spirit of Jay Ward's classic cartoon and Craig Wright's script resonates to the relationship between father and son (or man to dog, in this matter). After spending a time in the live-action field, director Rob Minkoff (of Stuart Little and Lion King fame) returns to his cartoon roots and makes this a remarkable effort. The 3D animation is ingenious and superb.
Burrell makes a perfect voice for Peabody, along with some wonderful puns that could rival Billy Crystal's on a open mic comedy night. Impressive voice support also comes from Charles, Winter, Colbert (who does a fine Fred MacMurray/Charles Grodin impersonation), Stanley Tucci as Di Vinci, Mel Brooks as Einstein and as King Agamemnon, Patrick Warburton (who have been doing a lot of voicework after Seinfeld went off the air).
Thanks to the success of the Oscar-winning Frozen and The Lego Movie, animation is getting more popular nowadays and I hope this film continue this bandwagon as we move on into spring. Maybe, this film could impact dog adoptions to go up.
Plus, come early for a zippy, hilarious short, Almost Home. It involves aliens trying to find a home planets. Steve Martin voices as the aliens' leader. It's good fun, as well as the film that plays after.
Rating: Mr.Peabody and Sherman: ***1/2
Almost Home: ***
Parent Advisory: Rated PG for some mild humor and brief rude humor. A few off-color jokes, but it's still a smart and good companion for the entire family.
You make me want to see this! :)
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