Mr. Peabody and Sherman
Here it is. Again. Another big budget feature length remake of a classic.
On the upside this movie was technologically perfect with state of the art animation.
On the down side, as a whole, Mr. Peabody & Sherman don’t have the same allure as they did in the Jay Ward version. It has the same ‘charm’ as every other single blockbuster cartoon that has come out in the past decade.
Director, Rob Minkoff, starts with some background as we watch Mr. Peabody receiving permission to adopt a boy, Sherman; he is an over as a talking dog who speaks every language, a world-class chef, an Olympic Gold Medalist, a licensed chiropractor, and a Nobel Prize-winning scientist.
The tale starts with Sherman (Max Charles) going off to school, only to be met by Penny (Ariel Winter), who does not miss a beat on torturing him because his parental unit is a dog. Ms. Grunion (Allison Janney), the guidance counselor tends to agree and as issues rise Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell) deems it necessary for Ms. Grunion and Penny’s family to come over to dinner in order to meet her parents and maybe help them all to get along in order to persuade the family that Mr. Peabody is civilized and capable of keeping a son.
Note the stereotypical women characters. Penny is the spiteful bully beating up on the lovable nerd. Penny’s mother is the flighty blond. Ms. Grunion is the large-and-in-charge spinster. Mona Lisa is unwilling to smile and Marie Antoinette even offers everyone cake.
In due course Mr. Peabody, Sherman, and Penny, go on three main time-lapsing adventures. In Egypt, Penny runs away with King Tut in hopes of getting married. In Italy, they are just in time for the renaissance helping Leonardo Da Vinci (Stanley Tucci) put a smile on Mona Lisa. Next, the gang makes an appearance in the Trojan War with the lovable and slightly dumbed down warriors.
Conclusively “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” would have been a great movie if it was an original and not shadowed by the success of the previous classic.
This one is 7 out of 10 stars.
