Stephen Colbert

Mr. Peabody & Sherman Review

It took the better part of 60 years, but finally the work of master animator Jay Ward has a proper big screen adaptation in Rob Minkoff’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman. It stays faithful to the tone of the original show, delivers all new jokes, enhances the characters without destroying them, and by just updating the material enough so it doesn’t feel like a forced attempt at being hip.

Interview: Rob Minkoff

We talk to filmmaker Rob Minkoff, who returns to entirely animated feature filmmaking for the first time in 20 years (following his success with some obscure movie called The Lion KingMr. Peabody and Sherman this weekend. We talk about balancing the cartoon’s old school feel with new school storytelling techniques, what it’s like returning to animation, how long the film was in development, why he’s generally averse to overdoing pop culture references in films, and why Jay Ward’s work stands up so well on its own after so long.