We haven’t had too many time travelling dogs over the years, with the obvious exception of Einstein in Back To The Future, and now we have Mr. Peabody. Yup, another time travelling dog. Albeit a far more intelligent one than ol Doc Brown’s pooch. See Mr. Peabody invented his own time travel machine called they WABAC machine.
Along with his adopted son (didn’t you know, dogs can adopt children these days) Sherman, dog and boy hurtle around through time experiencing various world changing events and then find themselves in a race to repair history and save the future.
Dreamworks Animation have plenty of experience when it comes to animated movies, from How To Train Your Dragon to Shrek. Alas, very little of that experience shines through here. Someone obviously thought it’d be box office gold to use these two, who are known for their history segments on Rocky and Bullwinkle and a Treehouse of Horror appearance.
Trying to be a bit too clever for its own good, its not sure what audience its gearing itself it. The design is bright and colourful, which is aimed at the young kids, but with a story thats complicated and all over the place, involving the likes of Da Vinci and King Tut, that seems to be aiming at the older kids. That gripe aside, heres another one! The animation is like something from 1999. Its hard to believe that Dreamworks have rendered something thats as lacklustre as this, especially considering what they’ve done before. But, as the old saying goes “Story is King”. Unfortunately, thats not the case here either. Its all over the place and provides nothing but headaches.
The vocal cast with the exception of Stanley Tucci who voices Leonardo da Vinci and Mel Brooks who lends his voice box, briefly, to Einstein, sound like they put as much effort in as the design team. Its not the worst animated movie, but it could have been so much better. Launching a possible new franchise like this, characters really need to be likeable, but the dog is about as likeable as being set on fire. Annoying and condescending, he should be put down.
Older kids may get something out of the story with its historic characters and the younger kids might like the colourful look, but overall this misses the mark by a wide margin. My 3 year old, laughed twice and while he didn’t get bored, its long forgotten compared to everything else hes seen! If you’re suffering from cabin fever and absolutely have to get out of the house with kids, this will buy you some time, otherwise Mr.Peabody can pee off!
