This animation movie is based on the television series of the same name dating back to the 1960's. The lead character is a genius dog named Mr. Peabody (with the voice of Ty Burrell). As a puppy, Mr. Peabody was never adopted from the animal rescue so he spent all his time studying science and history until he became a self-taught super genius. As a adult dog, he is recognized as a wonder, having completed his university-level education. When an infant is left abandoned on his doorstep he goes to court so he can get legal permission to adopt the child. The judge grants the permission, saying that “If a boy can adopt a dog, I see no reason why a dog cannot adopt a boy.” Mr. Peabody names his adopted son, Sherman.
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Sherman has troubles at school because he is very precocious. Mr. Peabody has taken him back in time using a time machine to teach Sherman history lessons while the history was being made. This gives Sherman first-hand knowledge of historical events, such as when they went together to see Marie Antoinette say “Let them eat cake” when the poor French were starving for bread which caused the French Revolution. When Sherman expresses his special knowledge of history, such as what he knows about George Washington, upstaging a girl classmate named Penny (with the voice of Ariel Winter), he creates in her an enemy. She and the other classmates tease him as being the son of a dog which starts a fight. Sherman bites the girl. Mr. Peabody is called to the school to speak to the principal about Sherman getting into a fight. They are joined in the principal's office by an evil child-services worker, Mrs. Grunion (with the voice of Allison Janney) who threatens to take Sherman away from Mr. Peabody if she can find anything at all wrong with Mr. Peabody's raising of the child.
Mr. Peabody invites Penny's parent over to make peace. While visiting, Sherman shows Penny the time machine even though he is not supposed to. They get lost in ancient Egypt and Mr. Peabody has to rescue them. They don't have enough energy to return all the way back in the time machine so they have to stop in Leonardo DaVinci's time to figure out a way to charge up the time machine. While, there Penny and Sherman take a flight in DaVinci's airplane without permission, proving it works to DaVinci's delight but making Mr. Peabody upset that Sherman continually disobeys him.
Mr. Peabody tells Sherman that Mrs. Grunion is going to take him away which cause a fight. When the time machine goes out of control they are forced to land during the Trojan War in the time of King Agamemnon. Penny gets into trouble and becomes stuck in the Trojan Horse. Mr. Peabody saves her but falls with the horse over a cliff and seems to have died. Penny and Sherman use the time machine to a time in the present when Mr. Peabody was still alive. Then there are two Shermans and Mrs. Grunion tries to capture both of them, hurting Sherman while doing so. Because of this Mr. Peabody bites Mrs. Grunion. The police are called. They try to capture Mr. Peabody and plan to put him to death for biting the woman.
The time machine goes haywire and many historical figures are brought into present time including King Agamemnon, and Abraham Lincoln and George Washington who are joined with Bill Clinton. They all know Mr. Peabody and give him a legal pardon. Mr. Peabody and Sherman use the time machine once more to go into the future to fix all the time problems which they almost completely achieve, but Mrs. Grunion is grabbed by King Agamemnon. She gets sent back to the past to become King Agamemnon's wife much to her dismay. Sherman and Penny are friends in the end due to sharing all the fantastic time adventures together.
Best part of story, including ending:
What I like about this story, which was the same as the original television show, is that it is a fun way to get children interested in the study of history.
Best scene in story:
I like the scene with Penny and Sherman get the airplane of Leonardo DaVinci to actually fly which surprises DaVinci because there is no certain historical record that shows DaVinci ever tested his design when DaVinci was alive.
Opinion about the main character:
Mr. Peabody makes a better person as a dog than most people. That is very admirable.
