Kernel Rating (out of 5): 
MPAA Rating: PG Length: 92 minutes
Age Appropriate For: 7+. Although this movie is about characters originally from “Rocky and His Friends” and “The Bullwinkle Show,” that connection is never acknowledged; this is a movie firmly in the current-day. A good amount of bathroom humor, including lots of butt-related sight gags; frequent peril and danger directed at the heroes, such as mummification, death, being sucked into a black hole, having New York City destroyed, etc.; some drinking by adult characters; and a fierce scene of bullying that inexplicably transforms into a children’s romance.
‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman’ is an uneven film, with a tonal imbalance that never corrects itself. Its unsteady mix of parenting advice and sci-fi themes doesn’t give either plot point enough time to really breathe.
By Roxana Hadadi
The dog genius Mr. Peabody and his adopted son Sherman are originally from the cartoon shows “Rocky and His Friends” and “The Bullwinkle Show,” but the versions of the characters in the new animated film “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” make no mention of their origin. That’s of no consequence, really, except for that the rejection of their origin story occurs simultaneously with a movie heavy on of-the-moment humor. This is a funny-enough movie, but it’s also a tonally disjointed one, attempting to do too much with its two themes of “parenting is rough” and “science fiction is cool.”
