Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)

Opening night Jack and I went with a bunch of boomers and we all loved this animated update of the Rocky & Bullwinkle segment from our childhoods, in which a brainy talking dog and his adopted human son travel in time with their WABAC (way-back) machine. So many great puns! Lots of stars! Ty Burrell and Ariel Winter (Phil and Alex Dunphy from Modern Family, Burrell was last blogged in Morning Glory) voice Mr. Peabody (the dog) and Sherman's nemesis Penny Peterson and both are wonderful: authoritative and loving for the former and bratty, manipulative, and more for the latter. Ten year old Max Charles (21 credits already!) voices Sherman, doing a good impression of the original. Stephen Colbert and Leslie Mann (she was most recently in The Bling Ring) voice Penny's parents, Paul and Patty Peterson. Try saying that five times fast. Allison Janney (skip her most recently blogged and forgettable movie The Oranges and laugh at her antics in the series Mom instead) is hilarious as the voice of mean Mrs. Grunion. Stanley Tucci once again voices a specific Italian man, though not the same man as he did in The Wind Rises, and Lake Bell (In a World...) does the voice of his model. The great Mel Brooks has a funny cameo as the voice of Albert Einstein.

Rob Minkoff (co-director of The Lion King (1994)) helms solo this time and the result is good, with fine pacing and rapid-fire action and jokes. Craig Wright (a playwright who's also written for a number of TV series) wrote the screenplay, based on the original series by Jay Ward, with additional dialogue credited to writing partners Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Night at the Museum (2006), Reno 911!, more).

Danny Elfman (most recently scored American Hustle) gives us a rousing soundtrack reminiscent of his for Beetlejuice (1998) (I know it well because I own it). You can hear a number of clips on youtube starting with this one (sorry about the ads). John Lennon's Beautiful Boy is included among the extra songs.

The movie opens with a special Dreamworks logo featuring Sherman as the boy with the fishing pole and ends with a drawing from the original cartoon after prodigiously long credits about which my friends opined that everyone who works at Dreamworks was listed.

If you're not familiar with the original cartoon, here's some history for you, followed by a particular (and peculiar) telling of the Rapunzel story.

Rottentomatoes critics are averaging 77 and audiences 80, but it came in second at the box office when it opened. There was supposed to be a new Rocky & Bullwinkle short preceding it, but something else played instead. We were all disappointed and I've already forgotten what it was.

Nonetheless, we recommend this feature for kids of all ages, including members of AARP.