Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Based on a 60's short 'Peabody's Improbable History', DreamWorks and director Rob Minkoff ('The Lion King') bring the original characters up- to-date in this wonderfully charming and colourful romp.

The story tells of Mr. Peabody, a talking canine (voiced by Modern Family's Ty Burrell), and his adopted "pet" son Sherman. An incident on Sherman's first day of school leads to Peabody inviting Penny and her parents for dinner, hoping the kids will reconcile their differences and avoiding potential loss of custody over Sherman. In an attempt to impress Penny, however, Sherman accidentally reveals the WABAC - Peabody's time travelling machine and ends up rewriting history that will have dire consequences in the future if not set right.

I hadn't seen the original cartoon until I saw the film, but I caught the introduction episode on YouTube after and there were several scenes/dialogue that's been re-used in the movie. Even though it holds no nostalgia for me, it's a great little touch.

The vocal talent is also great. There's the aforementioned Burrell, but also some other well-known names including, but not limited to, Stanley Tucci, Patrick Warburton (Kronk from 'The Emperor's New Groove'), Mel Brooks and Stephen Toblowsky. Their indistinguishable voices really liven up their respectable characters. And, while, Robert Downey Jr. was originally cast as Peabody, Burrell does a commendable job here.

After being less than impressed with prior DreamWorks entries 'The Croods' and, more recently, 'Turbo', I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I initially thought I would. The humour is very child-friendly and it's still a step down from what I like to call the "old" DreamWorks ('Shrek', etc.), but it is great family entertainment.

The story is on the predictable side, but has a great message and will keep parents and older siblings entertained, while the zany energy and characters will keep the kids amused. They might even pick up a thing or two about history.

7/10.

So I went to see this with not much expectation at all, the one trailer I had seen didn't really grab me but I decided to see it anyway and was pleasantly surprised. Mr. Peabody is this extremely intelligent dog who can talk and his adopted son Sherman is a 7-year-old boy who is a sponge for facts but quite slow practically. They go on adventures through time to learn about history. The movie sets that up in the first 15 minutes, which by the way it was done it looked like the movie was going to be some kids documentary about history but when it actually got into the story it was really fun. The comedy made me laugh, the visuals are stunning, I wish I could've seen it in 3D, the story is quite unique but also had similar elements of other movies, I got a Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure vibe and you get some pretty generic characters that you've seen in quite a lot of animated movies but the plot was't boring; I was interested to the end. The voice acting is pretty average but the way Mr. Peabody says things do add a certain something to the film. 8 out of 10.

From the creators of ¨How to Train Your Dragon¨ and the director of ¨The Lion King¨ bring us a new adventure stars Mr. Peabody & Sherman. Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell's voice) is a talking dog who is the smartest living thing in the world. Mr. Peabody is an inventor, scientist, Nobel Prize winner, gourmet, two-time Olympic medalist and a genius. He also happens to be a dog... a dog who has adopted a human child, Sherman (Max Charles' voice). . Mr. Peabody, canine of superior intellect realizes that he needs to adopt a boy. In his search comes across Sherman. Using his most ingenious invention, a time-travel machine, Mr. Peabody and his son Sherman are able to experience firsthand the events and characters that have changed the world throughout its history. Along the way, they soon have to fix the timeline and return to present day. But when Sherman breaks the rules of time travel, the two heroes will have to repair history and save the future. He's leaving his mark on history !. History is catching up with them !. Meet Mr. Peabody March 7 !. The Dogfather of all comedies !. The time traveling misadventures of a genius dog and his adopted son !.

Rob Minkoff returns to animated film - after The Lion King and the Stuart Little saga - with this comedy of adventures and time travel that reimagines the classic animated series from the 1950s and that had a sequel ¨Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show¨ (2015-2017) . In ¨Mr. Peabody & Sherman¨(2014) actor Ty Burrell voices Mr. Peabody in the original version. Fantasy, magic and adventure for the whole family come together in this US animated film about a a very special pair of protagonists a naughty boy and his dog father and the power to change fate. There is continuous non-stop entertainment with frenetic action, good staging and adventures of all kinds in which our starring will face a thousand and one dangers in order to to escape from a temporal mess in which a time machine has sent them through various periods of history . There are some historical references, important events and historical characters that will entertain the little ones, as well as instructing or educate them, including the following: French Revolution, Ancient Egypt, sacking of Troy as the Trojan Horse , Renaissance Florence including several historical figures as Queen Antoinette, Robespierre, Tutankhamun, Agamenon, Leonardo Da Vinci with his Mona Lisa, Beethoven, Gandhi, William Shakespeare, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, among others. The film is technically acceptable with a colorful pop approach accentuated by contrasts of time and space. The story, with basic positive messages, action enough and continous amusement, but it does stand out for its inventiveness in humor, originality or the keys it handles. So the director of ¨Mr. Peabody & Sherman(2014)¨ takes us on an adventure where fantasy prevails over everything else, although everything else is equally exciting.

There's a good and lively musical score by composer Danny Elfman. The film was well directed by Rob Minkoff. Rob Minkoff, is a successful filmmaker with several hits, such as: Haunted mansion, The Forbidden Kingdom, Stuart Little I and II, Lion King, Adventures of Peabody and Sherman, Flypaper and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank(2022). Rob was approached to direct Beauty and the Beast (1991), but the studio turned him down because he wanted complete creative control. He has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Lion King (1994).

Mr. Peabody & Sherman(2014) Rating: 7.5/10. Better than average. Well worth watching.

Just watched this with my movie theatre-working friend. It's based on "Peabody's Improbable History", a cartoon that always aired in the middle of the "Rocky & Bullwinkle" show and had Mr. Peabody, a smart dog with glasses, and Sherman, his adopted human son-also with glasses, going to various important events in history ending with some kind of pun often said by Peabody to a bemused Sherman. This version takes some elements from the pilot episode (Peabody adopts Sherman amid some troubles) and also adds somewhat of a girlfriend from school for the boy. With that out of the way, I'll just say that I found some amusement at much of the humor concerning some historical figures and some modern lingo and I did laugh out loud a few times. There's even some heart rending scenes I liked. But nothing beats the charm of the old cartoons even though they weren't the best artistically in animation. Still, the computer-animation is visually pleasing so on that note, I recommend Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

I saw the trailers and I expected it to be more concentrated on time travel and not have much of a story line. Well there is. A fantastic one at that! "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" is a wonderful story about a dog who adopts a boy.

The film also has lots of animated things to love - like history, comedy, romance, suspense and so much more. To make it even better – characters come to live thanks to the brilliant voice-over actors such as Ty Burrel and Max Charles.

The film starts when a young puppy is growing up in different shelters. From a very early age he shows everyone how very special he is. He is intelligent, athletic and smooth. He wins many prizes, but his greatest adventure happens when he adopts a boy. Together they go through multiple adventures and troubles but able to stay together.

I love so much about this film. The film itself is fantastic! I love how they take twenty five-minute shows that had old, colored 2-D animation and turn it into modern 3D animation with the use of modern technology.

My favorite scene is when they show the story of how Mr. Peabody adopts Sherman. They show points throughout Sherman's little life of great moments, like his first step in 1709. Then it shows how he finds Sherman. That is definitely a sweet and loving part!

This movie has a bit of violence in it, therefore I recommend it to ages 5-18. I also believe that adults who admired this cartoon kids, will love this new version of these beloved characters. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Reviewed by Gerry O, KIDS FIRST Film Critic. For more reviews, go to kidsfirst dot org.