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MOVIE REVIEW

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

also known as “Mr. Peabody & Sherman”
MPA Rating: PG-Rating (MPA) for some mild action and brief rude humor.

Reviewed by: Patty Moliterno
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Better than Average
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Kids Family
Genre: Animation Family Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy IMAX 3D Adaptation
Length: 1 hr. 32 min.
Year of Release: 2014
USA Release: March 7, 2014 (wide)
DVD: October 14, 2014
Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation click photos to ENLARGE Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Relevant Issues
Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

time travel

adoption

father son relationship

marriage

gluttony

ancient Egypt

pharaoh

idolatry

Kid Explorers™
Adventures in the rainforestn about the Creator of the universe by exploring His marvelous creation. Fun for the whole family with games, activities, stories, answers to children’s questions, color pages, and more
Featuring Ty Burrell … Mr. Peabody (voice)
Max Charles … Sherman (voice)
Lauri Fraser … Marie Antoinette/Egyptian Woman (voice)
Guillaume Aretos … Robespierre (voice)
Patrice A. Musick … Teacher (voice)
Ariel Winter … Penny Peterson (voice)
Karan Brar … Mason (voice)
Joshua Rush … Carl (voice)
Dennis HaysbertJudge (voice)
Allison JanneyMs. Grunion (voice)
Stephen ColbertPaul Peterson (voice)
Leslie MannPatty Peterson (voice)
Mel BrooksAlbert Einstein (voice)
See all »
Director Rob Minkoff
Producer DreamWorks Animation
Pacific Data Images (PDI)
See all »
Distributor Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Trademark logo.20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company

I remember watching “Mr. Peabody and Sherman” cartoons that appeared during the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” show. I don’t remember much of the storyline or history regarding the show, and, therefore, I assumed that because I didn’t remember them, they must not have been impressive. After seeing the movie, I am going to be watching “Mr. Peabody and Sherman” to see what I have missed.

Mr. Peabody, played by Ty Burrell, is a genius dog. The movie begins when he is just a pup waiting to be adopted by a family. Since he doesn’t fetch, roll over, bark, etc., he is the dog always left behind.

When he grows up, he finds a baby named Sherman (Max Charles) and decides to adopt him. Everything in their life is fine until Sherman goes to school. Sherman and Mr. Peabody have traveled through time in a WABAC machine. Because Sherman has seen history first-hand, he is a know-it-all in school. This angers fellow classmate, Penny Peterson (Ariel Winter) who sets out to humiliate Sherman. Sherman and Penny fight, and after Sherman bites Penny, a social worker, Ms. Grunion (Allison Janney) decides that Sherman should not be raised by a dog. Ms. Grunion is determined to remove Sherman from his home.

In an attempt to patch things up with Penny, Sherman shows her his WABAC, and the two of them go time traveling and create a rift in the time-space continuum. Sherman breaks all the rules of time travel and eventually has to confess to Mr. Peabody. Can Mr. Peabody fix everything before it is too late?

Objectionable Content

In one scene, they show a dog waiting to have its butt sniffed. A cow is hooked up to a machine to extract the methane. Mummification is explained (the brain is pulled out through the nose, etc.) A mummy hand is shown, and the arm falls off. Someone makes a comment about a booby trap. After laughing, the comment “You said boobie” is made. A boat is shot out of a sphinx’s backend.

Violence: Penny is a bully. She physically fights with Sherman in the cafeteria. They do not show Sherman biting her, but later we see pictures of the bite marks. There are numerous verbal altercations, along with fights such as the Trojan War and French Revolution. A taser is used.

Spiritual: They travel to ancient Egypt. Numerous Egyptian gods are mentioned and prayed to. Mr. Peabody and Sherman pretend to be Egyptian gods to save Penny. Moses is shown in a basket in the river. When they travel to Greece, Zeus is referenced. Several references are made to Gandhi, who appears to be Sherman’s hero. In one scene, people are chanting “blood, blood.”

Other: Mr. Peabody mixes drinks for his guests. While in Egypt, 7 year old Penny is engaged to the child King Tut. When someone does something wrong, Bill Clinton says “I’ve done worse.” Mr. Peabody hypnotizes some of his guests. Sherman lies and is disobedient on several occasions. “I have to prevent him from touching himself” is said and can be construed to have a double meaning.

Positive morality: Mr. Peabody is a very good dad to Sherman. He lovingly cares for his son.

Overall, “Mr. Peabody and Sherman” is better than I expected. I had very low hopes for enjoying it. While it is not a blockbuster, I enjoyed most of the movie. There was too much potty humor for my liking, however, overall, the movie was entertaining.

I recommend this movie with caution. If your child is easily influenced by potty humor, and you don’t want them to go around repeating things like “You said boobie” or “King Tut’s name rhymes with butt,” then I would avoid this movie. However, the movie is overall suitable for most children.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Minor / Sex/Nudity: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive—As a big Rocky and Bullwinkle fan, I enjoyed this movie immensely, as did my pre-teen grandsons. My wife and I both have a low tolerance for potty humour, and were not offended. The witty script is packed with excellent historical jokes coming at you in rapid fire, many of which will not be appreciated by the kids, but everyone leaves happy. The animation was as close to state-of-the-art as they could get and still retain some semblance of the original Jay Ward masterpieces.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Brian Schacht, age 67 (Canada)
Positive—I enjoyed the film. It’s light family entertainment. Fans of the classic cartoon would enjoy it. It might get your kids interested in history. The only downside I see is the unnecessary potty humor scattered throughout the movie. It’s a DreamWorks movie, not a Disney movie. But, don’t stay away because of that.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4
Keith Chandler, age 35 (USA)
Positive—I was surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. It was fun! My kids (9—17) laughed almost the whole way through it. Yes, the lead female character is a brat. There are those in the world. Sherman is a very good obedient son. Mr. Peabody teaches Sherman to be kind to those who unkind—isn’t that what the Bible teaches? And in doing so the little girl does a complete turn around and is no longer her normal nasty self.

I would highly recommend this movie. Where do people come up with homosexuality in this movie?! Sometimes I think people things make up for sensational purposes only. A big buff Greek soldier likes to sing and, of course, that makes him homosexual. Mr. Peabody is a homosexual dog?! Get real!! For some people out there I’d like to say get an imagination. This is a made up story—fictional. …
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Lisa, age 49 (USA)
Negative
Negative—I read the review here and decided to take my children to see the movie this weekend. I wanted to come back and leave a comment, because I was very surprised by how bad this movie was, and that it had received such a good review here. It just was not funny. One of the main characters is a horrible, mean bully and never really gets her comeuppance (although she does eventually apologize near the end of the movie). Sherman goes from a kind, sweet boy to a willful mean brat in the course of the movie (causing quite a bit of trouble in the process) but does realize the error in his ways and apologizes at the end.

I did not laugh once, or even smile. My 7 year old did not laugh at all. My 10 year old laughed twice. The best jokes/scenes are in the trailer. Visually it is interesting to look at, but that’s about it. I was also uncomfortable with the whole “dog adopting a boy” aspect. I realize this is true to the original cartoon, but it felt like it was touching a larger agenda (homosexuals adopting children), and I was afraid of how far it would go to make the point they were trying to get across. I didn’t go into the theater thinking about this, even knowing the storyline, but there was something about they way they presented it and promoted the adoption that made me uncomfortable. And how the Child and Protective Services lady was fanatically against it and portrayed to be evil. When in reality she raised some excellent points about how a dog could possibly parent a human child. But of course her character was made out to be crazy for even questioning it.

I would recommend that this movie be skipped and wish I had done so!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 1½
Kelly Ann, age 44 (USA)
Negative—There is a part when a Greek warrior says that fathers can be judgmental like what happened to his friend that was gay and wanted to be a singer.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality:
Thamara, age 41 (Italy)
Comments from young people

none

Comments from non-viewers
Neutral—I wanted to comment on a cartoon because it’s the only type of movie my husband and I will watch. We are both so tired of regular movies because every movie Christian or not, uses women as what they deem as “eye candy.” We are sick of it. So, we watch cartoons only and we will be seeing this one too. We put up with the “potty humor” since we don’t have children, but that would be an issue if we did.
Danielle, age 50 (USA)

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