There’s one name that almost always gets a smile from nostalgic fans of TV cartoons: Jay Ward. After all, he helped to produce one of the earliest cartoon shows during television’s infancy, “Crusader Rabbit”. But it wasn’t until 1959 that Ward unleashed his masterpiece, “Rocky and His Friends”. Each half hours usually contained two short chapters of an ongoing adventure serial starring Rocky the Flying Squirrel and his dimwitted pal Bullwinkle the moose. And in between these installments were classic features often funnier than the show’s title stars. There was the satiric “Fractured Fairy Tales”, the campy “Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties”, the fables of “Aesop & Son”, and “Peabody’s Improbable History” in which the super-genius talking dog Mr. Peabody and his boy, the excitable seven year-old human named Sherman journeyed back through the years via Mr. P’s time travel invention the WABAC machine. After meeting some historical figure, the two would make sure that history was right on track before Peabody ended the segment with a groan-inducing pun (“Sherman, don’t tell me you’ve never heard of chicken catch-a tory?”). When movie studios began mining older TV shows for film properties, the work of Ward was snapped up for several features. The main villains got their own live-action film in 1992 with BORIS AND NATASHA. A post Rocky property, GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE followed a few years later, then DUDLEY DO-RIGHT, and finally in 2000 THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE with the CG duo being menaced by a live action Robert DeNiro (also the flick’s producer!). Recently Dreamworks purchased Classic Media, home of the Ward library, and now this weekend brings the release of the first full-length animated film based on a Ward TV property, MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN. Can these classic time traveling cut-ups entertain a whole new generation?
As the film opens, Mr. Peabody (voice of Ty Burrell) tells us his origin. Growing up he just wasn’t like other pups. Besides being able to talk, he preferred creating new inventions over fetching sticks and burying bones. He garnered world acclaim and riches which paid for his lavish penthouse home in the middle of the city. But something was missing until he found an abandoned baby in an alley with a scrap of paper pinned to his diaper. On the paper was the name Sherman. After arguing his case in court Peabody was allowed to adopt the lad. As Sherman (Max Charles) grew, Peabody created a time travel device called the WABAC machine. This allowed the boy to learn history as the two embarked on several fantastic adventures, always making sure not to change historical events. Finally that fateful day arrived that Peabody dreaded: Sherman’s first day of school. Things do not go well when the lad gets into a fight in the cafeteria…with a lass, a blonde girl named Penny (Ariel Winter)! Peabody is called into the principal’s office where the school psychologist Ms. Grunion (Allison Janney) insists that she must visit their home to see whether Sherman has a proper parent. That evening, prior to her arrival, Penny shows up with her parents (Leslie Mann and Stephen Colbert). While Peabody entertains the parents, Sherman tries to impress Penny with….you guessed it, the WABAC. Can Peabody charm the parents and Grunion while preventing the two tots from causing an irreparable rift in the space-time continuum?
Much like the classic episodes, the adults may be entertained even more than the wee ones. Peabody serves up some preposterous puns worthy of anything Ward and his writers (some of them went on to write for classic sitcoms like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”) came up with. The big difference here is the lavish screen budget. TV could only afford limited cell animation in which the mouths or just a limb would move (and so the writers would have to pack in the verbal gags). Here via computer technology, everyone and everything is constantly on the move with frantic slapstick and pratfalls. But the artists have retained trace elements of design from over 50 years ago. Most of the humans spout bulbous noses with thin legs and tiny feet. Especially pleasing is the look of automobiles that resemble shoeboxes on small wheels with a massive clear bubble on top. The colors are bright (love the look of Tut’s time), the music is bouncy, especially great is the use of a song from a former Beatle. The vocal performances really make these characters compelling. I would have thought that Colbert would be the perfect Peabody, but Burrell brings warmth and whimsy to the usually deadpan dog. Patrick Warburton proves to be a ‘toon MVP as a Trojan commander while Stanley Tucci is a sprightly delight as da Vinci. And kudos to the casting of Einstein (I won’t spoil it!)! The 3D effects are well done (lots of swords and spears!) but the film should be just as enjoyable sans the upcharge. My only complaints are some unnecessary “potty”-type humor (really, another backside bit?), and the attempts at pathos. Those few “warm and fuzzy” moments seems to be shoe-horned into the wacky hi-jinx. These are minor nitpicks. Families (or just any moviegoers really) will be in stitches when they go time-trippin’ with this new spin on our old cartoon pals (and stick around for the nostalgic end credits done in the classic style). Set the WABAC for….fun galore!
4 Out of 5
