Mr. Peabody & Sherman

One can always tell when the movie summer season is getting close, because the number of animated films only increase. First we had "The Lego Movie" and now we have "Mr. Peabody & Sherman". Not to worry, for as the summer season gets closer, the animated flicks will be aplenty, and there are many to come. Hollywood may be the best manipulators on the planet, but that doesn't make them dumb--they know exactly what they're doing.

Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell) is a business titan, inventor, scientist, gourmand, two-time Olympic medalist and genius... who also happens to be a dog. Using his most ingenious invention, the WABAC machine, Mr. Peabody and his adopted boy Sherman (Max Charles) hurtle back in time to experience world-changing events first-hand and interact with some of the greatest characters of all time including Leonardo da Vinci (Stanley Tucci), Marie Antoinette (Lauri Fraser), Agamemnon (Patrick Warburton), and Mona Lisa (Lake Bell), but when Sherman shows off to a friend, Penny Peterson (Ariel Winter) and they end up breaking the rules of time travel, Mr. Peabody, Sherman and Penny find themselves in a race to repair history and save the future, while Mr. Peabody may face his biggest challenge yet-- proving to Child Protective Services' agent Ms. Grunion (Allison Janney) that he is a good parent.

Others to round out the cast are Stephen Colbert as Paul Peterson, Penny's dad, Leslie Mann as Patty Peterson, Penny's mom, Zach Callison as King Tut, Stephen Tobolowsky as Principal Purdy, Dennis Haysbert as Judge, Leila Birch as voice of WABAC machine, Guillaume Aretos as Robespierre, Patrice A. Musick as teacher, Tom McGrath as Odysseus, Mel Brooks as Albert Einstein, Steve Valentine as Ay, and Jeff Harnell as Abraham Lincoln/George Washington/ Bill Clinton/Isaac Newton/New York City Cop.

This was well directed by Rob Minkoff ("The Lion King" '94, "Stuart Little" '99, "Stuart Little 2" 2000, "The Haunted Mansion" '03, "The Forbidden Kingdom" '08, "Flypaper" '11). This guy certainly knows his way around a fun, escape-ridden type of film hence his resume, and this film followed that description in spades. It was cleverly written by Craig Wright which is based on the TV series produced by Jay Ward. There were a few choppy places, script-wise, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless. The visuals/animation were created by PDI/ DreamWorks and were seamless. Even the DreamWorks logo at the beginning incorporated Sherman in the place of the young boy fishing to give that connection to the film.

When I saw the trailer to this, I just cringed, because it looked so hokey. No doubt DreamWorks is banking on the baby boomers to see this, and after viewing the film, it will be a movie you can enjoy and totally have fun with from beginning to end.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                          Rated: PG                            92mins.