ANI-MOVIES, *Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Since there were already two live-action/animated films based on the Bullwinkle cartoons, as well as one of Dudley Do-Right, it became a natural choice to do a movie based on the other Frostbite Falls filler, Peabody's Improbable History was a successful release for Dreamworks Animation. A family-oriented film with talking dogs and time travel certainly works good enough for modern day audiences, especially for the post-nuclear family where the dog is the father!

Mr. Peabody is a super-intelligent dog who couldn't get adopted for being to smart, but eventually gains several masters degrees, with his own business which and a spacious penthouse. Despite his success, he fills the void in his life with an abandoned baby he finds, and becomes his legal guardian naming the boy Sherman. Peabody also creates his own time machine called the WABAC which he and Sherman visit historical moments in world history. This ideal lifestyle goes along the first few years of Sherman's life until his first day in public school where his insight on the "real" story of George Washington makes his classmate Penny to act out in a fit of jealousy. An altercation during school lunch has Sherman biting Penny for calling him a dog has Mr. Peabody being called in to talk to Ms. Grunion, a narrow-minded rep for Child Services who doesn't believe a boy should be raised by a dog. Peabody invites Penny and her parents to meet at his penthouse for Sherman to apologize to Penny, hopefully winning over Grunion's favor. Unfortunately, Sherman gets talked into showing Penny the WABAC, and has to get Mr. Peabody to come back with to ancient Egypt to save her from marrying King Tut. They rescue her, but have to make a pit stop at Leonardo da Vinci's to get the WABAC recharged. Sherman and Penny get a little more chummy, and she cons him into taking Leonardo's prototype plane for a test flight, thus infuriating Peabody. After an argument, the time travellers get sent to the Trojan War where Sherman runs away to join in the famed Trojan Horse invasion. Peabody saves Sherman from harm, but it appears to Sherman and Penny that he dies in the attempt, so the children go back to the present to get modern day Mr. Peabody to go back and change things. However, both the past and present Mr. Peabody and Sherman fuse together in front of Ms. Grunion. The hot-tempered busybody threatens to take Sherman away, leading Peabody and Sherman trying to make a getaway in the WABAC. This leads to an Avengers-esque appearance of a time/space disturbance in the sky, with dozens of historical figures being pulled out of it. Mr. Peabody uses the WABAC to reseal the paradox, returning everything to normal, and getting a presidential pardon(from three different presidents!)for being Sherman's caretaker.

Despite Dreamworks' obsessive need to throw in an abundance of modern slang and outdated catchphrases, the final product managed to be an enjoyable feature for all audiences. The animation is similar to the 60s-deco look of The Incredibles, even though the character designs still maintain the appearance of the original cartoon series. The movie takes a slight turn on the entire time travel motif by making the WABAC be an actual "time machine" instead of a "should've been machine", which really took the duo alternative versions of points in human history where everyone spoke English and even had modern day conveniences like airplanes no matter the time period. Another spin on the source material was Mr. Peabody being more of a father-figure to Sherman since in this version he adopted him as a baby instead of as an orphaned boy. All in all, this works as an entertaining science-fiction family adventure for old fans and new.