M. Peabody et Sherman: Les voyages dans le temps

After the February smash hit: "The Lego Movie," "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" certainly does have a tough act to follow. Despite this, "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" certainly does bring another high-quality piece of family entertainment to the big screen.

Surprisingly, the film's story is quite strong. Based on the retro cartoon of the same name, "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" centers on a highly intelligent dog named Mr. Peabody (excellently voiced by Modern Family star, Ty Burrell) who adopts a young boy named Sherman (also excellently voiced by 8-year-old Max Charles). Peabody takes Sherman on adventures through time with his super advanced time machine known as the "Way Back". After a series of incidents, the duo must travel to different time periods and eventually have to fix a potential hole in the space time continuum.

Many recent films based on retro cartoons (such as the abysmal "Scooby Doo" and "Smurfs" films) have failed to provide a good screenplay to accompany its animated hijinks. This film, however, is packed with witty dialogue and good morals about unconventional families, fatherhood, and childhood struggles. Mr. Peabody and Sherman are surprisingly deep characters. The fact that Sherman has been raised by a dog does eventually cause a rift between the two. In the beginning of the movie, Sherman is teased at school and called a "dog" because his father is one. Also faced with his own maturing, Sherman wishes to do more things on his own. Peabody, meanwhile is apprehensive of Sherman doing things on his own, as he fears inside that Sherman will outgrow him. This is quite a lot of conflict for a "kid's movie."

Luckily, the thematic elements are interspersed with charming humor and exciting visuals. Each time period is filled with beautifully animated landscapes and enjoyable characters with top-notch vocal performances. In 18th century France, Marie Antoinette (voiced by Lauri Fraser) is portrayed as a bubbly, naive, cake-obsessed aristocrat who is constantly stuffing her face with dessert. In ancient Egypt, palm trees, pyramids and towering statues show a clear rose gallery of effort from the animation team.

It's also worth pointing out that this film has some of the finest voice acting I have ever heard in an animated feature. Ty Burrell and Max Charles bring believable emotion and jocularity to Peabody and Sherman respectively. Burrell gives Peabody a suitably intellectual and clear sounding voice, giving an extra jolt of likability to the character. Max Charles shows an excessive amount of talent for an 8- year-old (probably younger when the dialogue was recorded), making Sherman a believable young boy with a roller-coaster of emotions throughout. An all-star supporting cast including Steve Colbert, Ariel Winter, Stanley Tucci, Patrick Warburton, Dennis Haysbert, Allison Janney, Leslie Mann and even Mel Brooks are certainly a treasure to listen to as well.

In regards to its historical accuracy, though this film does certainly have its share of jarring anachronisms (such as heart-printed underwear and an actual working flying machine made by Leonardo da Vinci), there is certainly a decent amount of informative elements in the historical scenes. Kids may actually be delighted to learn about how Marie Antoinette helped ignite the French Revolution and how George Washington didn't really cut down a cherry tree. The film makes the wise decision of being a colorful family adventure film while still having some informative elements. LA Times' film critic Betsey Sharkey recently criticized this movie for being "too smart for its own good," saying: "Mr. Peabody's "teaching moments" will sail right over the heads of kids while requiring adults to pay attention." With all due respect, Ms. Sharkey, I feel like the "teaching moments" are what make this movie stand out from other family fare. The fact that the filmmakers bring some education to the screenplay really shows that they have faith in a kid's ability to watch a movie.

In all fairness, one common criticism I do somewhat understand is the film's somewhat convoluted second act. Without giving anything away, I do have to admit things get pretty hectic. However, after many years of watching movies with time travel, I've learned to put down my complaint notebook and enjoy the movie. Let's face it: it's pretty much a guarantee that a movie involving time travel will have at least a couple of plot holes. Even excellent time travel films like "Looper" and "Back to the Future" have plot holes. However, those discussions are for another day.

At the end of the day, "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" is a beautiful, funny, and even heartfelt film that families from every background will get a kick out of. It is enjoyable to watch, and I dare even say it's one of Dreamworks' best efforts to date.

Just watched this with my movie theatre-working friend. It's based on "Peabody's Improbable History", a cartoon that always aired in the middle of the "Rocky & Bullwinkle" show and had Mr. Peabody, a smart dog with glasses, and Sherman, his adopted human son-also with glasses, going to various important events in history ending with some kind of pun often said by Peabody to a bemused Sherman. This version takes some elements from the pilot episode (Peabody adopts Sherman amid some troubles) and also adds somewhat of a girlfriend from school for the boy. With that out of the way, I'll just say that I found some amusement at much of the humor concerning some historical figures and some modern lingo and I did laugh out loud a few times. There's even some heart rending scenes I liked. But nothing beats the charm of the old cartoons even though they weren't the best artistically in animation. Still, the computer-animation is visually pleasing so on that note, I recommend Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

It's quite noticeable that Dreamworks Animation is trying to break visual grounds in their most recent movies, but Mr. Peabody and Sherman gives a little reminder on their original magic. The first half shows how charming the worlds they can bring even without shoving too much spectacles, the characters bursting out absurd personality that may sometimes be senseless yet terribly affable. But of course, it's an adventure traveling through historical events, but it kind of falls short on the concept and rather places those things into a bumpy ride with a dramatic center. Those things could have worked if it was more sincere, but the real enjoyment lies on the basics where you let the mockeries and the humor speak.

There is a nice additional depth behind the quirky and interesting relationship of the two, it makes their reintroduction on screen feel a lot fresh. The growth of their connection kicks in the plot, and that is when it starts becoming a bit forced. It doesn't seem comfortable with heightening the material. Turning things big and emotional is more like a must for the film to have because apparently that is what most animation today usually strive for. None of it actually plummets things down, but the story is probably better off smaller. People should remember the studio is more than trippy visuals and celebrity voices, in the end it's the simple witty humor that provides the genuine color in their movies.

The plot here should have focused more on the intersection between education and parody within the historical settings than building epic proportions in its little plot. The typical elements are still fun. Ty Burrell is dashing as Mr. Peabody even with the seriousness that embodies the character do too sparks a sense of heart. The entire cast delivers the comedy admirably and it really leaves the viewers hungry for more. The zany effects kind of interrupts most of that, but the animation is still great overall. The designs are wonderfully loyal to its cartoony essence which is one of the striking things to pay close attention to.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman is completely fun when it doesn't try following the modern roots of the genre. It's a lot brilliant when it's just traveling time, meeting a caricatured version of a particular historical figure, stopping candles, and let the personalities of the characters develop on their own without being too didactic. The relationship of Peabody and Sherman is already compelling at the start, but they could have think of better choices to justify its center. There are still plenty of strong stuff worth seeing around, it just needs to be cleverer.

I saw the trailers and I expected it to be more concentrated on time travel and not have much of a story line. Well there is. A fantastic one at that! "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" is a wonderful story about a dog who adopts a boy.

The film also has lots of animated things to love - like history, comedy, romance, suspense and so much more. To make it even better – characters come to live thanks to the brilliant voice-over actors such as Ty Burrel and Max Charles.

The film starts when a young puppy is growing up in different shelters. From a very early age he shows everyone how very special he is. He is intelligent, athletic and smooth. He wins many prizes, but his greatest adventure happens when he adopts a boy. Together they go through multiple adventures and troubles but able to stay together.

I love so much about this film. The film itself is fantastic! I love how they take twenty five-minute shows that had old, colored 2-D animation and turn it into modern 3D animation with the use of modern technology.

My favorite scene is when they show the story of how Mr. Peabody adopts Sherman. They show points throughout Sherman's little life of great moments, like his first step in 1709. Then it shows how he finds Sherman. That is definitely a sweet and loving part!

This movie has a bit of violence in it, therefore I recommend it to ages 5-18. I also believe that adults who admired this cartoon kids, will love this new version of these beloved characters. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Reviewed by Gerry O, KIDS FIRST Film Critic. For more reviews, go to kidsfirst dot org.

I wasn't impressed watching the trailer. Thankfully, I got a chance of a pre-screening. I'm perplexed by the low ratings because I absolutely loved this movie! This is coming from someone who hasn't seen Mr. Peabody before.

Mr. Peabody is a genius dog who adopts a boy and raises him to be a genius too. Unfortunately things change when the boy goes to school and gets bullied by a girl. Mr. Peabody, to appease things, invites the girl and her parents to a dinner at their house, everything goes haywire from there and we meet some pretty interesting characters from the past.

What made this movie special is the little details that are revealed along the way like how Sherman was adopted. The animation is fantastic and the 3D adorns it. As someone who likes puns, I absolutely loved the jokes, not just from Mr. Peabody but from other characters in the movie as well. Agamemnon was hilarious! Not everything is funny though, there are a few serious and tear jerking moments that make this movie special.

My only complaint is that some time travel stuff explained in the movie can be a bit hard to understand for children. Other than that, it's an absolute treat both for children and adults. Go watch it!