Title: Mr Peabody & Sherman
Director: Rob Minkoff
Voices: Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann.
Academy Award Winning Director (for ‘The Lion King’) Rob Minkoff, returns to animation with a delicious, cultured and moving flick.
‘Mr Peabody & Sherman’ is based on the characters from the ‘Peabody’s Improbable History’ segments of the 1960s animated television series ‘The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.’
In this feature the talking-Nobel-Prize-winning dog, Mr Peabody, adopts boy Sherman. On his first day of school, Sherman comes into conflict with his classmate, Penny Peterson. This will put Mr Peabody’s father role in jeopardy, when the adoption agency threatens to take the child away from him for being an inept parent. Mr Peabody will try to smoothen things out with the Petersons, by inviting them to dinner, but Sherman’s misuse of the Wayback Machine, to travel through time will give rise to further drama.
This 3D computer-animated comic science fiction film attests how movies for children can still be entertaining, educational and touching. In the past few years animation either became excessively satirical, witty and at times cynical for a younger crowd; or – on the other hand – was exceedingly simplistic and puerile.
However the ultimate film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox, provides some exciting history bites, through boisterous adventures and a captivating rhythm. ‘Mr Peabody & Sherman’ also delivers a beautiful message of love that is widely well professed but not always put into action. The commonplace that the family we belong to is made up of those who love us, raise us, and not necessarily always coincides with DNA, proves to be true. And all the dog lovers who will see this film, will struggle in holding their tears back at the phrase [SPOILER ALERT] “I’m a dog too!”
Technical: A
Acting: A
Story: A
Overall: A
Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
