Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Given that my memories of the original cartoons that introduced the Peabody and Sherman characters are fuzzy at best, I am grateful that previous knowledge is not required to enjoy this spirited and fast-paced animated update.  In fact, the canine Mr. Peabody (voiced by Ty Burrell) does a good job of getting us up to speed in the film's opening moments.  We learn that even though Peabody is a dog, he rejected the usual behavior of sniffing butts and chasing balls at a young age, and instead decided to dedicate his life to knowledge.  He grew up to become a Harvard graduate, Nobel Prize-winning scientist, and an all around captain of industry, just to name a few of his accomplishments.

He's also the adoptive father to a seven-year-old boy named Sherman (Max Charles).  Yes, this is the story of a dog and his boy, and in flashbacks, we see glimpses of how Peabody had to win a court case in order to gain custody of the abandoned child he discovered in an alley.  Despite the court's decision, there are some who do not think a dog, even a highly intelligent talking one, is a reasonable parent for a child - Particularly the cruel Ms. Grunion (Allison Janney), who wishes to separate the two.  Despite these setbacks, Mr. Peabody has used his gift of invention to help educate his son over the years.  He invented a time machine he calls the WABAC (pronounced "way back"), so that Sherman and he can travel to important moments in history, and the boy can be educated in our world.  Now that the time has come for Sherman's first day of school, Peabody must leave his boy in the care of others for the first time.

It's what happens on that first day of school that kicks off the plot.  Sherman becomes the target of a mean girl at school named Penny (Ariel Winter), and a fight breaks out between the two when she teases him about his unconventional father figure.  Hoping to make peace, Mr. Peabody invites Penny and her family over to his place for dinner, so that both families can talk things out.  While the adults discuss the situation with their children, Sherman makes an effort to patch things up with the snooty Penny, which leads to him letting it slip that he has a time machine hidden away in his home.  The two kids take an impromptu trip back in time to Ancient Egypt, which ends with Penny being trapped there as the new bride of King Tut.  Sherman travels back to the present to inform Peabody of what's going on, and as the two travel back in order to correct history, their journey across time ends up disrupting the time-space order.

As directed by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King) and written by Craig Wright (TV's Lost), Mr. Peabody & Sherman is frequently funny, very bright and joyful, and works just as well for adults as it does for kids.  I loved some of the clever visual gags that are bound to fly over the heads of most kids (and some adults, as well), such as the fact that Sherman shows up at school with a lunchbox of Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time".  The original cartoons were fairly low key in nature, but in order to keep today's kids entertained, this update has been infused with some big action set pieces, with Peabody and the time traveling kids having narrow escapes with the French Revolution, or fighting alongside the Trojans.  These never become excessive, and most importantly, the screenplay shows a real gift for wordplay and witty dialogue.

It also has an affection for puns, which is no surprise, given that the original cartoons were created by Jay Ward (he created Rocky and Bullwinkle), who loved a good pun himself.  At one point, Mr. Peabody tells Sherman that the pyramids were built "by some old Giza".  If you laughed or even smiled at that, as I did, then you should find it easy enough to surrender to the film's sense of humor.  Even if that kind of humor is not your thing, there's plenty to like here.  The look of the film is colorful, it's quickly-paced and a lot of fun, and the voice cast, despite being filled with recognizable names, never distracts.  This is thankfully not one of those cases were celebrity voice talents were picked just to put some names on the poster.  They are used well here, so that we are focused on the cartoon character on the screen, and not the voice coming out of them.

While Mr. Peabody & Sherman doesn't quite reach the heights of The Lego Movie, it's still incredibly charming, and should prove to be tremendous fun for both kids and adults.  At the very least, it's a step up for Dreamworks Animation Studios, whose last two efforts (the mediocre The Croods and the flat-out terrible Turbo) left me cold.  Should these characters either inspire a franchise, or perhaps some short films, I would be more than welcome to seeing them again.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com! 

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