Papa Vinyard here, now here's a little somethin' for ya...
The CGI update of MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN, who first appeared on the ROCKY & BULLWINKLE shows back in the '60s, has gotten a trailer, and I have to admit, it looks kinda funny. The set-up, which involves Sherman trying to impress a young girl and screwing up history in the process, is a bit cutesy, perhaps, but the gags on display are fairly humorous, and the "BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE for the kiddies" premise has a lot of potential. It's perhaps not surprising that the biggest laughs in the trailer come from Patrick Warburton as the doofy Greek soldier (Odysseus? Agamemnon?); that dude's voice-acting talents are just as strong as ever.
It inevitably skews more towards young kids than the older fans who would remember the Peabody shorts from TV, but the voice cast (which also includes Mel Brooks, Steven Colbert, Alison Janney, Stanley Tucci, and Ty Burrell as Mr. Peabody) and the educational value of incorporating history into easily-digestible children's entertainment (I learned just as much from Mario's Time Machine than I did from any history class) makes this a likable project that I could see myself checking out in a matinee at some point. Plus, it was directed by Rob Minkoff; even though his live-action credits (which include THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, THE HAUNTED MANSION, and the STUART LITTLEs) leave much to be desired, his last fully-animated film was THE LION KING, so the dude is probably a reliable talent as long as real, flesh-and-blood people aren't involved onscreen.
What do fans of the original shorts think about this trailer?
MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN go way back (or WABAC) on March 7th, 2014.
-Vincent Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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