Genius dog adopts boy

‘Mr. Peabody and Sherman’ is the new film from DreamWorks Animation – the studio behind ‘Shrek’, ‘Kung Fu Panda’ and more recently, ‘The Croods’.

It follows the story of a highly intelligent dog called Mr. Peabody, who adopts a small boy, named Sherman.

Actor Ty Burrell, of ‘Modern Family’ fame, voices Mr. Peabody.

He described working on an animation feature as a difficult, albeit fascinating, experience: “You have to get over your embarrassment very quickly because it’s just you and a bunch of people watching you sort of trying to create this character. Rob Minkoff (the film’s director) is sort of creating the world for you while you’re doing it, you know, telling you, ‘Now you’re in a tunnel and there’s this around.’ You’re trying to sort of factor all that in. The nerve wracking part of it is that you don’t actually know what you’re making, you know? So when I saw it a few weeks ago I was thrilled.”

After being mercilessly hounded by a girl in school, Sherman decides to give her a history lesson in Mr. Peabody’s time machine, and from that point on, the escapades begin.

Written by the ‘Six Feet Under’ and ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ writer Craig Wright, and with the Oscar-winning cinematographer of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, Guillermo Navarro, on board as a visual consultant, the film is designed to appeal to both children and adults.

As director Rob Minkoff explained, getting this balance was vital: “When I was younger, I watched animated films and when I grew up I learned that the people that made them really felt like they were making them, not necessarily for kids, but for themselves. That they really wanted to enjoy them and this was true of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and so I guess I grew up believing that that was really the best way to approach it. That it was something that we could enjoy, not just for kids, and not just for their parents, but somehow, if you appeal to the child in yourself, you could make something that would appeal to everyone.”

The film also features voice work by Max Charles, Stanley Tucci, Mel Brooks and Stephen Colbert.

‘Mr. Peabody and Sherman’ is out on worldwide release later this month.