A very deep regard for ‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman’

BY Joanna Mendoza

“Mr. Peabody & Sherman” is one “pun” ride! (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox)

A few weeks ago, my 1-year-old was bitten by a dog. He’s just a little boy and the dog was huge, so the bite was pretty high up on his body; it was on his left arm, near the shoulder blade.

“Mommy, the bite is near his brain so it’s Category 3,” the resident doctor told me.

“How many category levels are there?”

“Three.”

I nearly died.

I’ve always been afraid of dogs. But after that incident, I swore no more. As of this writing, my son has one more shot left to complete treatment, but really he’s fine. He’s the same happy kid he’s always been.

The dog bite scar is still visible on his left arm, but my 1-year-old is the same happy kid he’s always been.

But I don’t want him and his older brother near dogs again. I don’t even want them getting fond of dogs on any level, because I don’t want them to ask me and their dad for a puppy when they’re older; i wouldn’t know the least evil way to say no.

Fortunately, these days they prefer Hi-5 and Jake and the Neverland Pirates over the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so, no, they won’t be missing Goofy and Pluto so much.

My boys gamely posing with their Peabody-Sherman glasses on

But then we got invited to an advanced screening of Mr. Peabody & Sherman. Perhaps it was the chance for some family bonding outside our home, or maybe it was because Mr. Peabody is not so much a dog as he is a man trapped in a dog’s body, that I found my no-dogs-of-any-kind resolve dissolving.

So I went to the screening with my husband and our 4-year-old son. We had to leave our 1-year-old at home, because I’d read that kids should be at least 4 to have their first real movie experience.

Smile, Mr. Peabody!

I don’t regret it.

But before I talk about the movie, I just want to say how brilliant the new way of playing the Philippine national anthem in movie theaters is. No more Kapamilya or Kapuso stars pretending to be heroes and singing “Lupang Hinirang” to us. The image onscreen is just of the Philippine flag. There’s no audio except for a voiceover in the beginning saying, “Handa, awit.” (“Ready, sing.”) I’ve seen this version only twice but both times, majority of the audience sang loud and proud, unlike with the dramatic and overly produced Kapamilya and Kapuso versions that inspired only a few people to sing.

Okay, on to the movie.

Our screening tickets, which my son called “movie books,” the 3D glasses, and the McDonald’s Happy Meal box

Mr. Peabody & Sherman–about a super genius, Nobel Prize-winning dog named Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell), his adopted human son Sherman (Max Charles), and their time machine called the WABAC–is one pun ride. (Get it? A pun for fun!)

I admit I’m not familiar with the original Peabody shorts so I won’t attempt to make comparisons. So let me go right ahead and say that I loved it. My husband and I, as did the other grown-ups in the audience, enjoyed the many puns. Some were subtle, some were not, but they were all funny.

Besides the puns, I also deeply appreciated the father-son sentimentality. This is why I’m glad I’ve never seen a Peabody short. Apparently, the sentimentality was laid on a little too thick in the movie and was unfaithful to the spirit of the original. But I’m a sucker for love, so there.

My husband and our firstborn having a daddy-and-me moment

Speaking of love, I thought the Sherman-Penny (Ariel Winter) love angle was cute. When a jealous Sherman flicks King Tut (Zach Callison) with the WABAC’s wiper? Kilig.

Like Sherman, our son didn’t get the puns, but he had a lot of fun with the WABAC and Da Vinci’s prototype airplane. He didn’t really appreciate the 3D, but it was probably the 3D glasses; they weren’t very good and they were quite uncomfortable so he kept removing them. I know it wasn’t the 3D itself, because I read another review lauding that aspect of the movie.

My 4-year-old looking cool in 3D glasses while happily clutching his McDonald’s Happy Meal!

Mr. Peabody & Sherman is a must-see for the entire family. The grown-ups will surely love the puns. The little tots will enjoy the WABAC and all the adventure. Teens will go kilig over Sherman and Penny. And the whole family, without a doubt, will have a very deep regard for Mr. Peabody.

My boys hamming it up with their Tita Jen, my sister and fellow Movie Clubbers blogger!

The boys striking silly poses with their Lolo Lito!

Director: Rob Minkoff
Screenplay: Craig Wright
Based on: The characters from the “Peabody’s Improbable History” segments of the 1960s animated television series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
Stars: Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Leslie Mann, Stephen Colbert, Allison Janney, Stephen Tobolowsky, Mel Brooks, Stanley Tucci, Patrick Warburton, Lake Bell, Zach Callison, Lauri Fraser, Guillaume Aretos, Dennis Haysbert
Studio: DreamWorks Animation, Pacific Data Images, Bullwinkle Studios
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Running time: 1 hr 30 min
Official website: http://www.mrpeabodyandsherman.com/

Mr. Peabody & Sherman, distributed by 20th Century Fox, is now showing in Philippine cinemas.

Check our list of movies showing this March here.