The premise of the latest family-friendly CGI lollapalooza is a rather absurd one, even by the standards of the genre. Based on a series of segments from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Mr. Peabody & Sherman is about a dog smarter than most people who has adopted a human son (Sherman), and takes him on adventures through time using the WABAC Machine. In this future film outing, Mr. Peabody is in danger of having Sherman removed from his care, after Sherman bites a girl at school who is bullying him. Desperate to make things right, Mr. Peabody invites the girl and her family over for dinner. Sherman, equally desperate to make nice with this girl, decides to take her on a little trip through time, despite his canine father's order not to show her the WABAC. Comic antics ensue. This is not a particularly good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but there is something heartwarming and endearing about it. I wish this had been something other than a CGI blockbuster, because the premise is genuinely bizarre and fascinating (I have not seen the original cartoons), but it is just too Hollywood. There is something about a dog raising a human child that is rife with potential for surreal satire (that can still be family-friendly), but the boat was missed. It crosses over that line between loveable and irritating on one too many occasions, and the humor mostly falls into that mind-numbingly dumb category. Still, I did find this somewhat entertaining and amusing.
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