Based on a 60's short 'Peabody's Improbable History', DreamWorks and director Rob Minkoff ('The Lion King') bring the original characters up- to-date in this wonderfully charming and colourful romp.

The story tells of Mr. Peabody, a talking canine (voiced by Modern Family's Ty Burrell), and his adopted "pet" son Sherman. An incident on Sherman's first day of school leads to Peabody inviting Penny and her parents for dinner, hoping the kids will reconcile their differences and avoiding potential loss of custody over Sherman. In an attempt to impress Penny, however, Sherman accidentally reveals the WABAC - Peabody's time travelling machine and ends up rewriting history that will have dire consequences in the future if not set right.

I hadn't seen the original cartoon until I saw the film, but I caught the introduction episode on YouTube after and there were several scenes/dialogue that's been re-used in the movie. Even though it holds no nostalgia for me, it's a great little touch.

The vocal talent is also great. There's the aforementioned Burrell, but also some other well-known names including, but not limited to, Stanley Tucci, Patrick Warburton (Kronk from 'The Emperor's New Groove'), Mel Brooks and Stephen Toblowsky. Their indistinguishable voices really liven up their respectable characters. And, while, Robert Downey Jr. was originally cast as Peabody, Burrell does a commendable job here.

After being less than impressed with prior DreamWorks entries 'The Croods' and, more recently, 'Turbo', I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I initially thought I would. The humour is very child-friendly and it's still a step down from what I like to call the "old" DreamWorks ('Shrek', etc.), but it is great family entertainment.

The story is on the predictable side, but has a great message and will keep parents and older siblings entertained, while the zany energy and characters will keep the kids amused. They might even pick up a thing or two about history.

7/10.

I saw the trailers and I expected it to be more concentrated on time travel and not have much of a story line. Well there is. A fantastic one at that! "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" is a wonderful story about a dog who adopts a boy.

The film also has lots of animated things to love - like history, comedy, romance, suspense and so much more. To make it even better – characters come to live thanks to the brilliant voice-over actors such as Ty Burrel and Max Charles.

The film starts when a young puppy is growing up in different shelters. From a very early age he shows everyone how very special he is. He is intelligent, athletic and smooth. He wins many prizes, but his greatest adventure happens when he adopts a boy. Together they go through multiple adventures and troubles but able to stay together.

I love so much about this film. The film itself is fantastic! I love how they take twenty five-minute shows that had old, colored 2-D animation and turn it into modern 3D animation with the use of modern technology.

My favorite scene is when they show the story of how Mr. Peabody adopts Sherman. They show points throughout Sherman's little life of great moments, like his first step in 1709. Then it shows how he finds Sherman. That is definitely a sweet and loving part!

This movie has a bit of violence in it, therefore I recommend it to ages 5-18. I also believe that adults who admired this cartoon kids, will love this new version of these beloved characters. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Reviewed by Gerry O, KIDS FIRST Film Critic. For more reviews, go to kidsfirst dot org.

Mr Peabody and Sherman may not be among Dreamworks' best(The Prince of Egypt, How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek) or the best animated film of the year so far(between The Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon 2), but in my opinion it was a very good film with plenty going for it. The third act does get convoluted and too hectic, there are a few anachronisms that are quite jarring(especially with the Leonardo DaVinci referred to in a previous review) and some of the historical references might go over children's heads(for example they are unlikely to have heard of Robespierre), but actually Mr Peabody and Sherman doesn't have much that wrong with it.

The animation is great; the colours are beautifully textured and rich, the backgrounds are smooth and detailed in alternative to blocky(the landscapes are beautifully rendered) and while the "over-sized heads" may take some getting used to the character designs are likable and don't move in a robotic way at all. Danny Elfman's music is energetic and rousing, while it's not one of his best works(ie. Edward Scissorhands) it is one of his better recent efforts. There's always room as well for Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and George Gershwin. The script is very witty and smart with some very inspired puns that both children and adults will love. Especially funny were the plagues and Oedipus jokes. The story is cleverly structured and fast-moving, it is a tad predictable in places and as said the third act gets convoluted but on the most part it does a great(and fresh) job with the time travel idea(after seeing the mediocre at best Free Birds waste it).

And I for one loved the historical references, there's a lot of them(for example George Washington, Ancient Egypt, the French Revolution with Marie Antoinette and Robespierre, the Trojan War with Agamemnon and the Italian Renaissance with Mona Lisa and Leonardo DaVinci) and they are sent up remarkably cleverly. Sure the referenced characters are caricatures- but to be honest that wasn't unexpected, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is one of the best examples of time travelling in films and the referenced characters were caricatures in that too- and some might find them stereotypical but they were really fun to spot and delightful in their own right. The references may go over the heads of some but actually it is a good way of getting acquainted with the characters and eras and may inspire to learn more about it. By all means though you still learn a good deal here, Marie Antoinette and George Washington were interesting.

Underneath all the irreverence though Mr Peabody and Sherman also has a lot of heart, the whole adoptive father/son bonding, the story of how Sherman came to be adopted and the ending were very heartfelt. The titular characters are very endearing and the film does wonderfully in making their somewhat unlikely relationship believable, one of its strengths. Didn't mind Penny personally, she was bratty to begin with but she grows on you. The voice cast are first-rate, particularly Ty Burrell who is brilliantly funny yet with the ability to bring emotional depth to the character, and if Max Charles continues to act he has a promising future ahead of him. Of the rest of the cast the standouts were Allison Janney who is deliciously wicked, Stanley Tucci who brings warm eccentric colour to Leonardo DaVinci and especially Patrick Warburton who is a hoot as Agamemnon. To conclude, a very good animated film. 8/10 Bethany Cox