By Lisa Nault
Staff Writer

From Italy to Egypt, France, and more the only question necessary to ask is: “When are we going?”

Mr. Peabody has solved political struggles, invented incredible machines, and helped preserve the environment. Now he is faced with his his biggest problem ever…keeping his son Sherman.

Rob Minkoff, director of “The Lion King” (1994), created a cute story about a father and son relationship as the main characters travel through time using the WABAC.

The film is made to be a family friendly picture. That said, every character’s personality is intensely animated.

Agamemnon, known from the battle of Troy, is simply a giant lunkhead. He is by far the funniest character in the film with some of the best lines delivered by Patrick Warburton, from Seinfeld. This character worked having such an animated personality however, not all the characters did.

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France during the French Revolution, is known for responding to the peasants’ inability to even eat bread  with “let them eat cake.” That is her only trait in the movie. Every scene she is focused on in she is either eating cake or talking about cake.

Antoinette’s cake obsession leads into one of the problems with the movie: it will not drop jokes. There is one joke at the beginning that has Sherman laugh and then say “I don’t get it.” It was not funny the first time but it is the repeated even at the end of the film. The jokes in the movie can be very clever and witty, but those jokes lose something when the rest of the jokes are simple and overused.

On the surface the story has cliched aspects to it. The characters have a time machine and they mess up the fabric of time, the main boy and main girl start off hating each other but then like each other, and the big bad social worker trying to separate Mr. Peabody and Sherman leaves them alone.

Many of these clichés are fine—and an audience member could let them slide—but I find the evil social worker cliché unwelcome.

In the film’s context of a good father having his son possibly taken away it makes sense that the social worker is seen as a villain however, most animated films depict them as cold-hearted fiends.

A social worker only wants what is best for a child and wants to save them from any misfortune. It is a cliché I am tired of, and would appreciate if films in the future would not portray them as actually evil.

That being said, the story is not completely cliché and has original ideas. The way in which historical characters act with each other and the main characters is entertaining. For example, Mr. Peabody goes to Florence to visit Leonardo da Vinci, who is trying to paint Mona Lisa. Of course they bring up the fact that she does not smile, but the conversation between her and da Vinci as he frustratedly attempts to understand why she won’t smile is hysterical.

Also, the relationship between Mr. Peabody and Sherman is engaging. They both really try to understand  and clearly care about each other.

Mr. Peabody is a genius, but he understands that he does not know everything about being a father. He thinks Sherman still needs him in the same way that he has all his life up to this point.

Sherman loves Mr. Peabody but is also slightly ashamed by the fact that he is a dog. He believes that people look down on Mr. Peabody and thus also look down on him. It is a good relationship and stays enjoyable to the end.

If I had to describe the film in one word it would be “cute”. It is enjoyable to watch as an adult but it is aimed more at children.

People who watch it will learn something about history through the memorable scenes of important figures. The voice acting cast is star-studded and every actor choice was spot on. The actors seemed to enjoy themselves and their enthusiasm translates onto the screen. It is a cute movie about a dog and his boy.