If you’re looking for a movie that has everything in it look no further! MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN is an action-comedy-slightly-historical-film that will have you laughing and wanting more. Mr. Peabody is the smartest dog on the planet, inventing all sorts of gadgets, dishes, and even dance moves! It is no surprise that he is smarter than most humans, but his coolest invention is hands-down the “WABAC machine” (pronounced “way-back”), a time machine he invented so he could take his adopted human son, Sherman, out on the craziest adventures. Together they travel through time seeing all sorts of famous historical events, even creating some of their own; but when Sherman’s rival, Penny Peterson, sneaks off to Ancient Egypt, madness ensues!
THE MAGAZINE recently got a chance to sit down with the director Rob Minkoff and talk about what makes MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN such a funny film!
To start, what inspired you to direct this movie?
Well, I loved Mr. Peabody and Sherman as a kid and so about 12 years ago when I was working on STUART LITTLE I was asked if I was interested in directing the film and of course I was! Around 2010 or 2011, after a few changes, we got new writers for MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN and so the script was really different from the one I had looked at 12 years before. The biggest change was that Sherman’s rival had become a girl, Penny Peterson! She brought whole new elements to it.
So it was based off an older cartoon. You mentioned that Penny was a big change, what else did you change about the story?
Yes. MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN was first a part of a TV show called THE ROCKY & BULLWINKLE SHOW that aired in 1959. Then it aired on its own as shorts. It played throughout the 60s and 70s and reruns kept it on for a while. I think it aired in Canada too.
It did. So how much does the movie change from the show?
We didn’t really change a lot besides Penny. Really the big differences was that the perspective of the story changed. The movie really became more about the family dynamics of the father and son.
Speaking of Penny, why is she such a bully?
Bullying is becoming more of a serious issue. It wasn’t as much as an issue 12 years ago, or at least it wasn’t talked about as much. So when we first started work on the film 12 years ago, bullying wasn’t really a part of the story but when we went beck to the script 12 years later it had become more relevant and so we reworked the script to include it. We wanted to show two things. One: we wanted to show Penny overcome it, and two: her bullying is a form of revenge. At the start of the movie Sherman shows her up, he unintentionally humiliated her so she was trying to turn the tables on him. Get him back. It wasn’t the purest form of bullying. Peabody has a great moment where he says that some of the best relationships come from conflict and I think that’s true because that’s when you’re able to work out your differences with someone and we wanted to show that.
You’ve also worked on STUART LITTLE and THE LION KING, so a lot of stories with animal characters. What makes animal stories so compelling?
You know, history is filled with stories about animals, all the way back to fables and folktales. Animal stories are ancient.
Do you have a dog, or should I say does a dog have you?
No, currently we don’t have a dog but we have been talking about getting one now that we have a son. I had dogs in the past but unfortunately unlike Peabody most dogs don’t outlive their humans.
Peabody and Sherman travel back in time, meeting a lot of cool people in history and seeing some pretty cool sights. How accurate are the historical references in the movie?
In the TV show, Mr. Peabody and Sherman would go back to famous events in history so that Peabody could teach Sherman. They’d go back through time and find people who were supposed to be inventing something or doing something but they’d be stuck and need Peabody to help them. So Peabody was actually responsible for a lot of great moments in history. The show was about playing with the facts.We use history to illustrate points, to teach other ideas and concepts. So the idea behind MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN is to play upon the truth. Have fun with the facts and mix up history with pop-culture!
So what do you want your audience to take away from this film?
It’s about a father and son and that there are different kinds of families. And of course it’s about having fun and time travelling! All done in the imagery of 3D!
Is there a sequel coming up?
There isn’t one yet but you never know. If I had a WABAC we could go to the future and find out!
Thank you Rob Minkoff!
MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN hits theatres everywhere March 7th and we at THE MAGAZINE think you should check it out! It will have you laughing the whole time!