Time-travel. Piece of cake.
Mr. Peabody (voice of Ty Burrell) is the world's smartest dog. He invented several things. And yet, he also has adopted a child of his own, a boy named Sherman (voice of Max Charles). There are challenges. Sherman is bullied by a girl named Penny (voice of Ariel Winter), and after a bitter falling-out, Peabody is hunted down by a Child Services director named Mrs. Grunion (voice of Allison Janney). To try and fix things, Peabody invites Penny and her family to dinner, much to Sherman's disapproval. Now Sherman has to figure out a way to get along with this air, even if it means the secret of Peabody's WABAC, or time-travel machine, has to be revealed.
The animation here is interesting. It evokes classic cartoons, yet it depicts history in a colorfully-bouncy way. Characters look like they've lept out of history books, and even famous landmarks appear in respectful fashion. The screenplay and pacing is respectful to the original cartoons, even if some of the movie can seem episodic in nature. The historical facts make this movie educational, which is something you don't see in the movies anymore.
The voice acting is great. Burrell does a solid job as Mr. Peabody, while Charles brings a sense of fun and whimsy to Sherman. The best voice actors, however, are Stephen Colbert (as an ironically busy Mr. Peterson), Janney, and Stanley Tucci (as a great Leonardo Da Vinci), who bring a lot of character and interesting tones to their characters. On the weak end, Winter only brings a generic tone to Penny, and Leslie Mann isn't given a lot to work with in the character of Mrs. Peterson. Danny Elfman does a respectable job in the music score.
On the downside, I've already discussed the episodic nature of some of the script. Also, considering the visual wow DreamWorks Animation has been doing as of late, this isn't a movie that is "Wow-worthy". There's also a lot of eye-rolling moments and silly depictions of some historical figures (the Mona Lisa, King Tut, and Marie Antoinette, respectively).
DreamWorks Animation has been great with some of their recent movies. And after the visual spectaculars and exciting movies such as Rise of the Guardians, The Croods and the very fun-paced Turbo and Madagascar 3, one would expect something similar here. And sadly, Mr. Peabody and Sherman takes a few steps back.
That isn't to say that the overall result is a bad movie. Its still cute, colorful, and fun. The voice acting is top-notch. And its nice to see a classic Saturday morning animated series get a big-screen rendition. But, this movie can often feel a little too much like a Saturday morning cartoon. Its a little episodic in places. The animation isn't top-rate. And sometimes, the story can feel a little bit muddled. Also, the film dabbles back into the toilet humor that plagued the earlier, not so good DreamWorks efforts.
So, I guess you could say Mr. Peabody is an interesting combination of the past and present, even if it sometimes can't decide which way it surely wants to go.
Score: 5.9/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: Nothing offensive. Unless someone being called a "dog" repeatedly counts.
Adult Content: Someone refers winkingly to a drink as "Einstein on the beach". Exasperated, Mr. Peabody tries to take his son away from a clone to keep him from "touching himself".
Violence: A few perilous scenes. One involving swordfighting, but no one appears seriously hurt. The Egyptians describe the mummification process kinda graphically (but its meant to be humorous). A riot is seen at the beginning.
Alcohol/Drugs: A drink is shaken up and served.
Other: Some bathroom humor (sewer, armpit smell, etc.)
