Director: Rob Minkoff
Stars: Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter
Mr. Peabody (Burrell) is a genius and all-round amazing dog, and he adopts Sherman (Charles). However, when Sherman starts getting into a feud at school with Penny (Winter), Mr. Peabody’s parenting skills come under scrutiny and he’s in danger of losing his son. As part of Sherman’s education, Mr. Peabody had invented a time machine and to try and prove Penny wrong, Sherman shows her. The two of them, along with Mr. Peabody, end up going on an adventure through time.
I don’t remember ever seeing the series this was based on so I can’t speak to how it compares, or whether it retains the essence of the original. I was hoping to enjoy it a lot but I found my attention wandering and it didn’t quite engross me, so as far as I’m concerned it’s not up there with the best animated movies, but it’s decent fare.
The relationship between Mr. Peabody and Sherman is the driving force and it’s the main emotional point of the movie. This is strong, and the resolution is satisfying. The plot itself is not very involving, although it is good to see all the different time periods and various people from different eras. In this sense it’s actually a good movie to show kids because it should get them curious about different cultures through history. The humor was, well, okay…I love puns but even I was cringing at some of them. But it’s a better sensibility than, say, the Chipmunk films at least.
Overall I think if you have young kids it’s worth putting on and then following it up with showing them more about any of the eras that interested them.
