After several weeks of fun posts on Star Wars and holiday films I want to get this column back to its original purpose- recommending a film you can stream with your family. So today I am talking about the 2014 underrated comedy from Dreamworks Animation- Mr Peabody and Sherman.
In recent years CG adaptations of classic television shows have been pretty terrible. We’ve gotten everything from Yogi Bear, The Smurfs, to the Chipmunk movies: all awful in my opinion. So it was with a certain degree of trepidation that I watched Mr Peabody and Sherman but I left with a smile on my face. To my delight they nailed the adaptation of the old show.
It is of course based on the bits from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show about a genius dog and his son Sherman who travel through time having adventures. They usually learn a lesson by the end of the short and they ended with a funny pun or time travel based joke.
The basic premise for the Mr Peabody and Sherman movie isn’t the most original thing I’ve ever heard. Mr Peabody is raising Sherman and takes him on adventures in the WABAC time machine. They visit George Washington, the French Revolution and more. Naturally Sherman knows more about history than his other classmates. This bothers a girl named Penny who picks a fight with Sherman. As a measure of good faith and to apologize for the fight, Mr Peabody invites Penny and her parents over for a visit but Penny and Sherman end up taking the WABAC and getting lost in history. Mr Peabody must come and find them and everything must be set right.
While the premise might not be super original it is what they do with it that works so well. The key is the script is so well written. There are so many good laughs in each era the trio is in whether Egypt or the Renaissance or French Revolution. I laughed a lot watching it but it is not the kind of humor that is tawdry, adult’s only jokes. Kids will find it funny and so will the parents.
I particularly loved the segment with Ancient Greece and the Trojan Warriors. They got Patrick Warburton as King Agamemnon who always nails it and was hilarious in the role. Just as an example of the quality of the script a line from Agamemnon that made me laugh “a lot of heroes have father issues. My old man is a minotaur, half man, half bull, all judgement!” and “don’t even get me started about Oedipus. Let’s just say you do not want to be at his house over the holidays, it’s awkward.”. Ha!
Plus, the other cool thing about Mr Peabody and Sherman is kids may actually learn something about history while watching the movie. They work in humor into real historical events in an approachable way just like the old show used to do. For example, when they meet Marie Antoinette they have a great gag about the ‘let them eat cake’ line from history but they also show the suffering and poverty of the people. The same is true for the combination of humor and history with the Egyptian, Renaissance, and Greek scenes. I could see if I was a home school or other teacher I could work Mr Peabody and Sherman into lesson plans very easily.
The script is not the only stand-out of Mr Peabody and Sherman. Director Rob Minkoff, who previously helmed the Lion King, has done a wonderful job with the animation. It is bright and colorful and pleasing to look at. I liked the way they designed the WABAC machine and the characters were very cute.
The voice cast is also across the board excellent. I already mentioned Patrick Warburton, who is so funny, but Ty Burrell is terrific as Mr Peabody. Ariel Winter, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann, Allison Janney, Stanley Tucci and a number of great cameos are all wonderful. It’s a large celebrity cast from Dreamworks that all makes sense and is not based on star power alone, which can be a problem for the studio in their weaker films like Shark Tale.
To see the rest of Rachel’s reviews, click here.
Overall, Mr Peabody and Sherman is a property that probably should have stunk but with good writing and other strong choices it turned out to be a very entertaining animated film. It should have done better at the box office and if you are one that missed it, give it a watch on Netflix. I think you will really enjoy it with your whole family. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section and thanks!
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