Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014 film)

History of the film

Mr. Peabody & Sherman is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated comic science fiction film featuring the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman of the 1960s animated television series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. It is produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The movie is directed by Rob Minkoff, who is most famous for co-directing Walt Disney Animation Studios' The Lion King. Alex Schwartz and Denise Nolan Cascino are the producers. Tiffany Ward, daughter of Jay Ward, one of the creators of the original series, is the executive producer. Mr. Peabody & Sherman features the voices of Ty Burrell, Max Charles and Ariel Winter.

It is the first DreamWorks animated feature to feature characters from the Classic Media library since DreamWorks Animation's 2012 acquisition of Classic Media and the first to be based on a TV show. The film premiered on February 7, 2014 in the United Kingdom, and was released on March 7, 2014 in the United States.

Despite grossing a worldwide total of $275 million on its $145 million budget, the film underperformed at the box office, forcing a writedown of $57 million. A TV series based on the film, titled The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show, was released on Netflix on October 9, 2015.

Synopsis

Mr. Peabody is a gifted anthropomorphic dog who has an adopted 7-year-old son, Sherman. He tutors Sherman travelling throughout history using the WABAC, a time machine.

They visit Marie Antoinette in Versailles during the French Revolution in 1789. Getting caught in the Reign of Terror, Peabody is nearly executed by Maximilien Robespierre with a guillotine, but escapes with Sherman through the Paris sewers.

In the present day, Sherman attends the Susan B. Anthony School in New York City. His knowledge of the apocryphal nature of the George Washington cherry-tree anecdote leads to a fight with Penny Peterson in the cafeteria where she puts him in a choke hold. Peabody is called in by Principal Purdy who tells Peabody that Sherman had bit Penny. He is also confronted during this meeting by Ms. Grunion, a Child Protective Services agent, who implies that Sherman's behavior is due to being raised by a dog. She informs Peabody that she'll come to their home to investigate whether he is an unfit parent.

Peabody invites Penny and her parents over for a dinner party to reconcile before Ms. Grunion arrives. Penny calls Sherman a liar for claiming first-hand knowledge of history. Despite Peabody's contrary instructions, Sherman shows Penny the WABAC. Penny goads Sherman into taking her into the past, where she stays in Ancient Egypt in 1,330 BCE to marry King Tut. Sherman returns to get Mr. Peabody's help. Peabody hypnotises the Petersons, and retrieves Penny by telling her the fate of a pharaoh's widow...