Supersmart dog and his not-so-smart boy

Film review: Mr Peabody & Sherman (PG)
Running time 92 minutes
Rating:***
As well as being a very pleasant change not to have to watch films with bad language and painful twisting of limbs, some time spent with Mr Peabody & Sherman is excellent because it confirms two things. One is that it pays off if you talk to youngsters in an intelligent way, because then you’re likely to be pleasingly and amply repaid; and second that, as some of us suspected, many dogs are actually much smarter than humans. Let’s think about that second one a moment. I know dogs chase sticks and put their heads out of car windows so that their ears flap, but this is just a cunning plan. It’s all quite possible that they – and cats – really are just playing us for mugs and, come the day, all will be revealed as they vanish into the ark as yet more rain overwhelms us. So, to the film. This cartoon offering is the story of the world’s most intelligent dog/person, Mr Peabody, and his adopted child Sherman, who is not that intelligent. While Mr Peabody (voiced by Ty Burrell) is solving the world’s problems, Sherman (voiced by child actor Max Charles) is going to school and running up against a girl with an attitude problem. The girl, Penny Peterson (Ariel Winter) manages to manipulate Sherman (it was ever thus) into showing her how Mr Peabody’s time machine works. Penny decides that going back to Ancient Egypt and becoming a princess is a good idea until she realises that she has to marry King Tut and be buried with him in a pyramid. Mr Peabody comes to the rescue, but not before he has stopped off to gather up other famous faces from our history books along the way, thus providing fifth grade American kids with some knowledge of history, as well as a smattering of quantum mechanics, physics, and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (Einstein is voiced by veteran comic Mel Brooks) It’s all very pleasant, with, as the British Board of Film Classification says: “Mild threat, infrequent fantasy violence and one example of moderately strong language”. It’s enough to make a reviewer think pleasant thoughts. Directed by the very able Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little), the film is perfect for all the bright seven and eight-year-olds out there, thirsting for an intelligent film to watch when they are forced away from their lessons over half term.