Mr. Peabody and Sherman is a new animated film which entered theaters on March 7. The story is about a very educated dog who answers to the name of Mr. Peabody (voiced by Ty Burrell) who adopts a son named Sherman (voiced by Max Charles). Sherman impresses Penny (voiced by Ariel Winter), a girl he falls head over heels for, by taking Mr. Peabody’s time machine, the Wayback. As the duo messes with the past, it then screws up the timeline of history.

In this cinematic experience, the father/son relationship between Mr. Peabody and Sherman is very strange.

First, Mr. Peabody finds Sherman as a baby in an alley, in a cardboard box, sobbing. He then eventually adopts the small infant.

“Well, if a boy can adopt a dog, then I can’t see why a dog can’t adopt a boy,” the judge (voiced by Dennis Haysbert) says to Peabody when he is in court.

Secondly, one scene in film shows Sherman going to bed and telling his dog dad “I love you, Mr. Peabody.”

Mr. Peabody responds with, “I have a strong affection for you, too.”

Third thing, some might not get why Mr. Peabody makes Sherman call him, “Mr. Peabody” instead of “dad.” Maybe it’s because he’s a dog, and he can’t have human children.

The graphics and animation by Dreamworks were the highlight of this film. Numerous famous historical people are found throughout Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and they animated each so well. Of course, there is still some wiggle room for improvement, but it was a success visually.

Close to the ending, Mr. Peabody is accused of raising Sherman like a dog. The characters (Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Penny, King Tut, Sherman, Penny’s parents, etc.) all get up to say, “I am a dog too.” This quote is showing the respect they gained for Mr. Peabody because of his ability to travel through time.

The character development of the story was boring, and the director (Rob Minkoff) could have twisted the plot of the movie a little more — it was too predictable. The cheesy ending was copied from tons of other films and shows. Overall the story was easily anticipated, childish and a little over-rated, but I can’t beat it up too much — the target audience is children of ages 6 to 10.