Mr. Peabody and Sherman

A new way to teach kids about history... sort of

Our story follows Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell), who is the most talented anything (or dog) in the known world. He has accomplished much in his time, then decides that his final challenge is to raise a child named Sherman (Max Charles). This decision is the spark of some conflict since he is a dog and the boy is human. When he adopts Sherman as his own it sparks Mr. Peabody's greatest invention "The Wayback," a time machine he uses to teach Sherman about history. We enter the movie on Sherman's first day at school, all seems to be going well until he makes an enemy out of his fellow classmate Penny (Ariel Winter), by out smarting her in the classroom. She hazes him for being a dog (since his father is a dog) until Sherman breaks and bites her. This puts Mr. Peabody in an awkward position, he is now in trouble of losing Sherman unless he can convince child services that he is an amazing father. He hosts a party (of sorts) for Penny's parents, and the woman from child services, forcing Sherman to confront Penny again. When Sherman is forced to reveal how he knows so much about the subject he outsmarted Penny on he shows her The Wayback, and accidentally leaves her in ancient Egypt. Mr. Peabody and Sherman run to her rescue, facing trials and tribulations on the return journey.

Have you seen a movie about time travel before? This should not come as a surprise. No, this movie is not the most original concept in the world. The plot is old and tired, the climax is repetitive of every other movie about time travel (accept for Bill and Ted I guess, no real problem with time travel there). It is your classic story of "adoption problems" and "space time continuum in danger of collapsing." We have seen it before, and it shouldn't impress anyone.

Some of the characters were a little awkward for me (like Odysseus being made to look like an idiot, in comparison to the other Greeks), most were pretty entertaining. There is a scene where historical figures are playing with modern day inventions, which was cool even if Bill and Ted beat them to it. Leonardo DaVinci's character along with Agamemnon were funny interpretations, and Penny's parents were cute in a satirical sort of way.

The jokes in this movie were pretty great. Some of them are very high brow, engaging different members of the audience all around. There are funny "people falling out of a hole in a statue, making it look like the statue is pooping" for the kids (or me because pooping and farts are timeless humor). There are Greek jokes, French Revolution jokes, and presidential jokes for the history buffs or parents in the crowd. I did find myself laughing uncontrollably to two of the more cleverly crafted jokes, and that is enough for me to call this movie funny. The rest of the jokes made me smile, or chuckle, so that is enough for me to call this movie good at least.

The voices in this were pretty great. I didn't really expect Ty Burrell to be able to pull off a good Mr. Peabody (I could shorten it to Peabody, but this situation is to formal), but he surprised me by making it a great fit. I just didn't know if I could see the jerk from the "Dawn of the Dead" reboot as a charming, egghead. The child voice actors did well, but nothing is really asked from children who do voice work. Just read the script and apply the right amount of emotion. I can at least say that they seemed to put forth some major effort in sounding emotional, so there is that. Stephen Colbert, Stanley Tucci, Patrick Warburton, and Mel Brooks were all fantastic in the small roles that they played.

The last thing I can really say about this movie (besides mentioning the animation, which these days should only be brought up if it is a negative) is the short that proceeded it. It was harmless, but lacked any real defining characteristic. Unfortunately, it felt like a moment where the studio said "hey, this is an animated movie, we need a quick short to put in front of it." All I can think is that this is not the first time a short from Dreamworks fell flat, which is bad since Disney seems to have it mastered. Why did I bring this up? Because the short in front of these movies is almost talked about as much as the movies themselves.

Final Verdict: Rent it This movie won't exactly be turning anyone's head like the other animated movie to come out this year ("The Lego Movie"). If you need a cute animated film to hold the kids' attention for awhile (that you can also laugh at) I suggest this.