Movie Review - Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Mr. Peabody & Sherman ** (PG) Oh, the curse of nostalgia and high hopes. When this cartoon canine genius and his "pet boy" blessed TV screens from 1959-61 as a regular feature in the Rocky and Bullwinkle series, it was a revelation, at least for this impressionable youth. The irreverent humor and groaner puns were unprecedented in such ostensible kiddie fare. One segment inverted beloved fairy tales; this one made history fun and silly, as Peabody and Sherman time-traveled in their Wayback Machine to assure the correct outcomes in bizarrely amusing circumstances. Jay Ward’s creations were the South Park of that era.

Unfortunately, several later attempts to stretch these short, simple gems into movies have not gone well. 1992's live-action incarnation of villains Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale was a complete flop; same for Brendan Fraser’s gig as amazingly earnest, yet equally inept, Canadian Mountie Dudley Do-Right seven years later. Even worse was Robert DeNiro’s campy misfire as Fearless Leader in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle a year after that. This one’s less of a bummer than those, but still short of what franchise fans pine for.

This treatment stretches the episodic concept by fleshing out backstories for Mr. Peabody’s body of creative work and his official relationship to Sherman, and putting them into a contemporary urban setting. Sherman goes to school, gets into trouble as a misfit with his peers, leading to a frenetically up-tempo adventure. The script delivers too few laughs to honor its roots, or meet the demands of a feature-length film. The visuals are, of course, vastly superior (with a 3-D option), but that’s more of a perk for today’s youngsters than for Ward’s first-generation admirers.

Regular readers may note similarities to my review of last year’s updated remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which surely fared better among those who hadn’t read Thurber’s short story or seen the Danny Kaye movie version. If this isn’t just another mediocre animated feature, piggy-backing on earlier glories, then I may be reaching the flower of my curmudgeonhood. (3/7/14)