Mr. Peabody and Sherman

It's never easy translating classic 60s shows to today's standards, especially when it comes to just how much people were willing to accept in the old days compared to today. A good example of this is the segment of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends known as Peabody's Improbable History, featuring an astonishingly intelligent dog who invents a time machine and travels back in time, the constant joke being that history had been completely out of place and that the dog, Peabody, was the one to put it in its rightful place. The cartoon is amusing and has a classic element, but it existed in an era when people were easily willing to buy into just about anything as long as it was entertaining, but these days, even in the realms of family animation, it would take a little more effort to entertain audiences. Luckily, I'm here to tell you that Dreamworks' re-interpretation of the show repairs some of the faults the show would have by today's standards while still maintaining a lot of what made the original show amusing.

The film follows Mr. Peabody, played here by Ty Burrell, who goes over his backstory; he's a uniquely intelligent dog who never got adopted and instead sought out his own ambitions, taking interests in athletics, culture, and many other studies. Upon finishing graduate school, he adopts a boy whom he calls Sherman, played by Max Charles, and creates many unique inventions, including his time machine, titled the Wayback. Cut to Sherman's first day of school, where he has a hard time fitting in, having particular conflicts with a young girl named Penny, played by Ariel Winter. After a fight ensues, Peabody is about to have his parental rights taken away, but he insists that he gets another chance and invites the principal of the school to do an inspection, as well as invites Penny and her parents to dinner, to prove himself worthy. However, Sherman eventually finds that the only way to make amends with Penny is to show her the Wayback and take her time traveling. From here, many events of turmoil ensue that take Peabody and Sherman to Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance era, and the era of the Roman Empire.

Unlike the show, which just threw in constant mishaps in world history just for comedic reasons, this flick has a little more consistency to it. Peabody and Sherman mainly just use the Wayback to visit the time periods and call it a day, but whatever mishaps occur mainly occur due to Sherman's actions (and occasionally Penny's actions as well), and it's up to Peabody to pull them out of the scenarios. It's a classic formula that's been done to death, but it works mostly because of how astonishing it is to see just how quickly Peabody can formulate his solution. Granted, it's a little odd how obvious of cartoon characters these historical figures have become, but that's more on the level of what people are willing to accept these days for the sake of entertainment compared to the 60s.

The animation accurately converts the classic drawing style of 60s animation to the standard CG animation of today. The shapes and movements of the actors are smooth and curvy, while the color palette is bright and colorful, but it still looks like a 3D model. Speaking of which, the 3D is very well-rendered as well, though with the exception of the time travel scenes, which look phenomenal, there's really nothing that separates it from just about every other 3D animated movie these days.

One thing that keeps this film amusing is the voice performances. Ty Burrell is so good in this role that I had to double check just to make sure that Bill Scott didn't rise from the grave and put this together. Many of the supporting actors, including Patrick Warburton, Tom McGrath, and Mel Brooks get many laughs as well. Even Ariel Winter is amusingly tough and ambitious in her role as Penny. The only problem I have is with Max Charles as Sherman. He's a kid, so I shouldn't be too hard on him, but if Walter Tetley can pull together what seems like a boy's voice in the original show, so can a lot of other adult voice actors in this era too.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman is not a perfect movie; some might not be able to adjust to the changes made to the story, and child actors are.... well, child actors.... but it makes just the right changes to work in today's era while staying true to what made the original cartoon work. The film's been out for a week already, but if you haven't checked it out, definitely do so.

This movie is worth $14.