As soon as you hear about a movie that's going to feature a highly intelligent, upper-middle-class dog who adopts a baby he finds in a cardboard box, you pretty much know nothing can go too wrong.
Dreamwork's latest animation, Mr Peabody & Sherman, is based on a short American TV segment from the The Bullwinkle Show in the 60s. The time-travelling fun fest is directed by Rob Minkoff, the guy behind The Lion King.
Mr Peabody (Ty Burrell) is a highly educated beagle who attended Harvard. With a kind heart, he adopted bespectacled Sherman (Max Charles) when he was little.
Everything goes smoothly until Sherman meets Penny (Ariel Winter), a snobbish girl he has a fight with. This alarms the adoption agency, who threatens to reclaim Sherman unless Peabody takes action. To resolve the conflict, Peabody invites Penny for a visit.
A whirlwind of chaos begins when Sherman accidentally tells Penny about their time machine.
It's an upbeat plot and the heartfelt ending gives the film a real kick, making the whole time-travelling quest rather amazing.
Minkoff ran out of creative juice for a while after The Lion King, but Mr Peabody & Sherman is a sign of good things to come.