Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)

This week for the A-to-Z Part Deux Challenge we’re up to the letter “C”. Our focus is casting director Christi Soper and the specific movie of hers we’re looking at is Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014).

Title: Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Director: Rob Minkoff

Released: February 7, 2014 (UK)/March 7, 2014 (US)

Available to stream on: Netflix

IMDb synopsis: The time-travelling adventures of an advanced canine and his adopted son, as they endeavor to fix a time rift they created.

Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell) is not your average pup. He lives in New York City with his adopted son Sherman (Max Charles). Yep, you read that right. Mr. Peabody is a super intelligent canine who is the “father” to Sherman.

Sherman learns history from Mr. Peabody through the magic of the WABAC machine. Yes, the WABAC machine is exactly what you think it is, a time machine. They use it to visit specific significant times/points in history, giving Sherman a front-row seat to history as it plays out.

Because of his unique way of learning history, Sherman is first to raise his hand and answer questions in class. However, his academic rival, Penny (Ariel Winter), is constantly irritated by Sherman’s ability to one-up her. One day, Penny has had enough and calls him a dog and puts him in a chokehold. In self-defense, Sherman bites her…like a dog.

As his “father”, Mr. Peabody is called down to the school to speak with the principal. However, it’s not just the Principal Purdy (Stephen Tobolowsky) waiting for him, Ms. Grunion (Allison Janney), an agent from Child Protective Services, is there as well. Ms. Grunion is worried that Peabody is not a fit parent and plans to come to the house for an investigation.

So, to try and smooth things over before Ms. Grunion’s visit, Peabody invites Penny’s parents, Paul (Stephen Colbert) and Patty (Leslie Mann) over for dinner. Peabody has one rule for Sherman for the evening, don’t bring out the WABAC machine.

Of course, seems like a simple rule to follow, right? Well, not if you’re Sherman.

It gets worse. Not only did Sherman show Penny the WABAC machine, but he also uses it to take her back in time. They find themselves in ancient Egypt and Penny decides she’s staying and is going to marry King Tut. Sherman, terrified and desperate for help, goes back to the present to get Mr. Peabody and bring him back to Ancient Egypt.

Now that they’re all three together, you’d think things would turn around and they’d be back in the present time in no time at all. Well, if that’s what you thought, you’d be dead wrong. On their way back to the present, the WABAC runs out of fuel. From here, the journey through time back to the present begins.

Will they find a way to make it back? Can they make it back without altering history along the way?

Going into this, I knew of Mr. Peabody & Sherman from the old The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show segments. Even if you had no prior knowledge of the characters, Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) does a decent job of giving you a very brief backstory without it seeming like overkill.

I chose Christi Soper because casting for an animated movie has always interested me. It doesn’t matter how much the person looks like the character they’re portraying. It’s all about how well their voice fits the look of the animated character, down to the facial expressions and mannerisms. While there are no voice performances that are particularly memorable or “great”, the casting is incredibly solid overall.

I don’t really have any issues with this movie. The animation is fun, the humor is super hit or miss, it doesn’t drag on longer than it should. But at the same time, in a year that also gave us The Lego Movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and Big Hero 6, unfortunately Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) is easily forgettable and lost in the shuffle.

Well, there you have it. Those are my thoughts, but what about yours? Tell me all of your thoughts on Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) in the comments below or by reaching out on social media!

Up next, the letter “D”. Have a crew member who’s name starts with “D” that you’d like to see covered? Get your suggestions in by Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening I’ll announce the individual and their movie that we’ll look at on Instagram, Twitter, and Threads!