From the Rookie Corner – Mr Peabody & Sherman

Yeah – while the rest of you were out seeing 300: Rise of an Empire, I was at the theater catching Mr Peabody & Sherman. I am out numbered and I was out voted.… so, off to a matinée I went. If you are short on time, my one-word review of the film would be ‘yes!’. As for the rest of you – trudge on..

Somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain I vaguely recall catching the original, Peabody’s Improbable History, during Rocky and His Friends and then The Bullwinkle Show. I vaguely recall the way back machine, history stuff… and that’s about it. If you have never SEEN it, check out the video. Segments were less than 5 minutes – so it’s not a huge time suck. Go on…DO IT.

Fast forward 50+ years to the age of the reboot and we have Rob Minkoff’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman. I’m feeling a little all set with reboots, but with a commercial on the TV every THREE SECONDS, the kids wanted to see it. There are things that make taking short people to a film these days more tolerable. First – animation is nicer. Go back and check out say… Snow White… yes, it’s a classic… but things REALLY have come so far. There is MUCH more detail – both in the characters and even the background. Check out Sherman – and the colors and detail rock in the character. There is this cool almost ‘realistic’ look to things. Since I like art, this does amuse me. Yes, I know computers and all wibbily wobbly timey wimey…stuff – but it’s pretty cool anyway. Another bonus – and this is a big one – is the adult humor. . Because Mr Peabody, Sherman and Penny travel to multiple times in history, there are lots of jokes that kids will NOT get. Unless your kid is a history buff…which could happen. There are appearances by Marie Antoinette, King Tut, Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, Albert Einstein and Agamemnon to name a few….. Often in a theater, there were moments when the ADULTS are laughing – and the kids are quiet. And that was awesome. Another positive, these characters do a bit of talking. There is no dramatic pause for a character to belt out a song. If you read my thoughts on Frozen, you know what I am talking about. And, of course – there was Stephen Colbert…

Along with Stephen, film ‘stars’ the voices of Ty Burrell as Peabody, Max Charles as Sherman along with Ariel Winter, Leslie Mann, Mel Brooks (ah – hello? The film has Mel Brooks…), Allison Janney , Stanley Tucci , Patrick Warburton (who is HILARIOUS), Lake Bell and Dennis Haysbert.

I know not everyone liked it. It may not be a drag-your-kid-to-the-theater type of film, but it was pretty good. The kids were amused. Not Lego Movie amused, but they left happy. As much as I would have rather gone to see 300: Rise of an Empire, it wasn’t traumatic for me to sit through. I say, watch it. If you think you can trust a rookie…

OK – Just a lil ‘rookie rant’. This is Penny. That look on her face sums her up at the start of the film. She is a bit of a rancid bitch. A pretty mean, epic bully. There are two other things about this character that really bug me. First was her personality 180. She is just AWFUL at the start as I said – and the bitch completely turns on a dime….did she take her meds? It was just plain creeptastic. I was waiting for her to switch back to her other personality… but she didn’t. Unless it was after the credits. I know, some of you menfolks will say ALL women are crazy. I’m not talking to you. Dammit.

There is one more biazzare ass detail… what the fuck is up with her eyes? Blondie seems to be sporting an epic amount of eyeliner and mascara for a little girl. This an example of a ‘wtf’. Who during character development thought that was ok? Some one needs to do an intervention…first its a little mascara… then its’s a spray tan – next thing you know, she’s an oomph loompa.