Classic tale of dog and his boy
Television cartoon with time-travelling Mr. Peabody and Sherman hits big screen
Rob Minkoff knows more than a few things about animated motion pictures. He co-directed the acclaimed hit The Lion King and the winning Stuart Little.
Granted, Minkoff might not be smarter than Mr. Peabody, but if anybody could translate the droll 1960s Mr. Peabody & Sherman TV cartoon into a 21st-century big-screen animated production it would be the talented 52-year-old.
For the uninitiated, set the time-travelling WABAC (or Waback) machine to Jay Ward’s popular cartoon series, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. A segment on the show was called Peabody’s Improbable History featuring the brilliant talking canine Mr. Peabody and his pet boy, Sherman.
Together, they would travel “way back” in time to key historical events, which guaranteed a smattering of educational references mixed with lots of laugh lines to satisfy the class clown in all of us.
Minkoff entered the picture when he was offered the opportunity to redo the cartoon 12 years ago.
“I was working on Stuart Little (2),” recalled the director at a Toronto hotel recently. “But I jumped in because I love Peabody and Sherman, and the time travel through history. It just seemed like there was so much there.”
And there was. But it took Minkoff a while to get the 3D computer-animated Mr. Peabody & Sherman into theatres.
Here are the ABCs of the journey:
A: Minkoff confessed he was part of “the rerun generation” that watched the adventures of Peabody & Sherman in the 1970s. As a keen student of character animation at the California Institute of the Arts, he also studied Ward’s series. “Jay Ward was a god to me,” he said.
Minkoff wanted to get the Peabody & Sherman movie story right. Early drafts weren’t clicking, though.
“The script was irreverent with a lot of puns, but it was missing the emotion we needed,” Minkoff said. “We had to get into the Peabody and Sherman father-son type relationship and a subplot dealing with adoption.”
So they did. Now, the new animation includes both as Mr. Peabody and Sherman cope with the stigma of adoption while involving themselves in critical historical events and a time-warp dilemma.
B: With the script ready to go, Minkoff forged ahead with casting the voice talent. Key, of course, was Mr. Peabody, who was originally voiced by the talented Bill Scott (he also did Bullwinkle and Dudley Do-Right, among many others).
Ty Burrell, Phil on Modern Family, was selected to do the voice of Mr. Peabody after a series of auditions. Tiffany Ward, Ward’s daughter, considers herself a protector of her father’s legacy and she initially hesitated.
“Tiffany was very concerned about getting Mr. Peabody right but I didn’t want Ty to do a sound-alike,” Minkoff said. “(Mr. Peabody) had been off the shelf so we had this opportunity to make it fresh.”
Eventually, Tiffany Ward came around.
“One of things that attracted us to (Burrell) was not just his comic timing but his lovable quality,” the director said. “Mr. Peabody is so smart he comes across a little cold, so we wanted something to offset that and (Burrell) was able to do it.”
C: Combining old and new ingredients doesn’t always make for a good recipe but Minkoff paid attention to the delicate balance.
“There is a modern cultural subtext going on in the movie,” Minkoff said. “But we didn’t do anything to force it to be relevant. We just presented (Mr. Peabody and Sherman) from a perspective of today.”
In the tradition of Jay Ward’s sly wit, Minkoff also admitted he plays separately to parents and their children through the comedy.
“When I make these movies I want to make them for everybody,” said Minkoff. “It’s difficult to make a film for kids, and also make a joke about Oedipus, but we did.”
Mr. Peabody and Sherman ½ Starring: Ty Burrell, Max Charles Directed by: Rob Minkoff Running time: 92 minutes
It wouldn’t take much to turn this story of a hyperintelligent dog into a tale reminiscent of Planet of the Apes.
Mr. Peabody (voiced by Ty Burrell) is easily the smartest being on Earth, but he’s still a dog — growls when angry, bites when furious, wags tail when pleased. If he turned his formidable intellect to world domination, there’d be no stopping canine-kind.
Fortunately, director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little), aided by playwright and TV scribe Craig Wright, is far more interested in the zany side of a talking, time-travelling dog.
With his owlish glasses, red bow tie and love of a good pun, Mr. Peabody explores history in his WABAC machine for the same reason he once decided to adopt an abandoned and similarly bespectacled red-haired child — because it’s there. (Or, given the temporal aspects of his travels, perhaps because it’s then.)
Mr. Peabody and Sherman first appeared as an adjunct to the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons of the 1960s, providing history lessons of dubious educational but certain comedic value.
The film version follows the same formula — we first meet our heroes in 1789 France, hobnobbing with a pastry-obsessed Marie Antoinette before getting caught up in the reign of terror.
A flash back segment played over John Lennon’s Beautiful Boy introduces the Wright brothers, Jackie Robinson, Gandhi and other greats.
Mr. Peabody may have intimacy issues — he refuses to let Sherman call him “dad” — but he’s determined to give his ward the best history has to offer.
Trouble arises when Sherman (Max Charles) is bullied by classmate Penny (Ariel Winter) and responds by biting her. Social services is called in, and Mr. Peabody invites the girl and her parents over to his luxury penthouse to smooth things out. Of course, Sherman and Penny get into the WABAC machine and soon the characters are rattling through time.
The 92-minute film keeps up a frantic pace that should provide equal amusement for both kids and parents — though perhaps not dogs, who may feel a bit self-conscious.
The WABAC makes layovers in 1332 BC Egypt, 1508 Florence and 1184 BC, the last stop giving Mr. Peabody the chance to tell Sherman: “I absolutely forbid you to fight in the Trojan War!”
Kids will get a kick out of Patrick Warburton playing Agamemnon as thick as a wooden horse, Stanley Tucci as Leonardo da Vinci (with Lake Bell as his model Mona Lisa) and even Mel Brooks in a bit part as Albert Einstein.
The animation is amazing, with 3D used to maximum effect as the WABAC tunnels through wormholes, or when Sherman and Penny accidentally prove Da Vinci’s flying machine actually works. (More proof that all animation and almost no live-action films should be 3D.)
Of course, stretching out the original format of a fiveminute filler to feature-length story requires some padding.
The tension between boy and dog feels manufactured, and the film might have benefitted from just a little less structure, a little more haphazardry.
Why invent a time machine if you can’t indulge in the odd unexplained paradox?
But then, one might as well ask: Why make this movie at all? On balance, it’s a good thing they did.