I have a confession to make when I first saw a poster for Mr. Peabody and Sherman. I thought that this movie was about Droopy the dog, I saw on Saturday morning cartoons! Furthermore, when I heard that that Ty Burrell.. a.k.a. Modern Family’s Phil Dunphy was doing Droopy’s voice, I thought that it would be amazing because, I could totally hear Phil’s monotonous voice filling in Droopy’s monotonous, slightly gloomy- but intriguing voice.
But, then later on a second or third glance, I noticed that it wasn’t Droopy from my Saturday morning MGM cartoons. But that it was actually a segment from one of my other-watched cartoons and Rocky and Bullwinkle and it was known as Mr. Peabody and Sherman.
Once I realize what cartoon this was, I was more curious than super excited because I had seen Droopy hundreds of times, and remembered him well. But Mr. Peabody and Sherman- I hadn’t seen quite as much. So I had a bit of homework to do to compare the movie to the cartoon and on that basis I think that the movie. And after seeing the movie, I thought that both characters were portrayed accurately. Peabody was shown as the cool, and slightly emotionally detached dog. And Sherman was portrayed really well, as the happy upbeat-all over the place boy. And I think both voice actors did a good job portraying these characters well.
Ariel Winter does Penny’s voice and she does a good job of showing her sassy, quick-paced personality. I am also surprised at how Ariel Winter was a consummate professional and didn’t let her TV Dad’s presence ( she is Ty Burrell’s TV daughter on Modern Family) affect her doing the voice of Penny. When she does the voice of Alex on Modern Family she doesn’t sound as sassy–but here she sounds like a complete sasspot!
This film truly did a great job being hilarious, but it also wasn’t afraid to show the complexities and issues that surrounded their characters lives. It showed how Sherman had issues with bullying, especially coming from a family where a dog is the parent. It showed how Peabody was nervous in trying to please Penny’s parents ( as many parents would be in his position) , so that the social worker didn’t take the case up further.
I love the small comedic touches in this movie -especially when they travel back in time. One of my favorite touches was when Penny was in ancient Egypt, and every time the grand vizier dropped something, there was a servant who ran by him and picked the object up. Another great touch, was when Mr. Peabody needed his machine to be refueled and he went to say ‘Hi’ to his friend Leonardo da Vinci. Here, the audience gets to meet Leonardo’s.. em.. baby. Well, Leonardo tried to make his own baby- which was this creeping looking wooden doll-rolly-cart-baby! And every now and then ‘the baby’ just rolled through the streets’ terrifying everyone.
But perhaps my favorite part of all was at then end when Peabody resolved the situation with the social worker, and the next day he took Sherman to school. Unlike the past times, when Sherman tells Peabody, I love you and Peabody responds by saying, ‘I have an equal admiration for you too Sherman’— this time Peabody actually tells Sherman in return, ‘ I love you too Sherman.’ Not gonna lie- that melted my heart a little.
This film is a great see, especially if you are looking for some light hearted comedy which has some ups and downs in the middle of it. It definitely holds your attention and you walk out of the theater feeling better than when you came in.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
