Charles
Schulz’s “Peanuts” is one of the most beloved comic strips in American history.
Ever since its debut in the early 1950’s, daily newspaper readers have fallen
in love with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the gang. With how iconic
they’ve become, they of course made the transition into animation specials, TV
shows, Broadway shows, and of course movies. There were four “Peanuts” movies
that were released from 1969 to 1980, all of which were directed by Bill
Melendez, Schulz’s main animator and the voice of Snoopy and Woodstock.
The
first “Peanuts” film, “A Boy Named Charlie Brown,” featured our titular
character and his team lose the Little League baseball game. Hoping to find
something that he could win, he enters the school’s spelling bee which persuades
him to enter the Nationals league in New York. For the first film given to the
comic strip, it is what you’d expect. The characters are how we remember them,
it has some good songs, and the voice acting is not too bad. Nothing great, but
it’s worth a viewing.
The
second film, “Snoopy, Come Home,” was mainly about Snoopy traveling cross
country with Woodstock to go and visit a young girl, while the rest of the gang
starts to worry about what may have happened to Charlie Brown’s companion. This
is one of the more memorable of the films, mostly because it’s not just the
saddest of the movies, but the saddest “Peanuts” thing you’ll ever see. I don’t
want to go into too much detail, but trust me when I say that you’ll be feeling
very emotional watching it.
The
third film, “Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown,” features the Peanuts gang at
summer camp, as they compete in the great river raft race against a rival gang
of cheating bullies. This is the film that has the most adventurous feel to it,
and was actually the first of the films I saw when it debuted on Cartoon
Network. Now that I’m older, I find it to be one of my lesser favorites of the
franchise, mostly because I was kind of bored with it. I mean, the stuff with
Snoopy and Woodstock fighting with the cat, Brutus, was funny, but everything
else felt very dis-interesting. This is one that I genuinely skip.
The
fourth film, “Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back),” features
Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Snoopy, and Woodstock, take
part in a foreign exchange student program, and travel to France. Charlie Brown
and Linus, in particular, were chosen to stay at the Chateau du Mal Voisin (The
House of the Bad Neighbor) by a girl named Violette Honfleur, whose uncle is not
very fond of children. “Bon Voyage” stands as my favorite of the original
films, and is one of the most unique productions of the franchise, mostly
because it has the rare occurrence of the adults in the “Peanuts” world both
talking and being seen. It feels weird, but at the same time can be accepted,
since Schulz and Melendez did work on the project together, so the decision feels valid. I also love the
mysterious atmosphere the film gives revolving around Violette and the Chateau,
which does get you invested in the story-line.
With
the draw of the new millennium and the passing of Charles Schulz in 2000, there
hasn’t been much new “Peanuts” material. Bill Melendez did do a few more
specials until his passing in 2008, but nothing else in terms of feature films.
It wasn’t until 2012, when Schulz’s son, Craig, and grandson, Bryan, had
negotiated with 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios to do a brand
new CG animated film, which would be released to celebrate the 65th
anniversary of the franchise. This kind of bothered me, because when it comes
to Blue Sky, they haven’t had the best track record with films. They’ve had a
couple good flicks here and there, but nothing too spectacular. Plus, I was
worried that they were going to make this film nothing but a modernized cash
grab, and only throw in key moments and lines for the sake of fan service. But
after seeing the trailers, I figured it might actually be a worthy film.
So
what did I think of “The Peanuts Movie?” The best word that could describe it:
FAITHFUL. It simply gets everything right, from the animation, to the
characters, the way they act, everything about this film is done 100% like the
original cartoon, with a few little touches.
The
film chronicles the life of Charlie Brown, as he tries to impress the little
red haired girl that’s moved to town, hoping that it would also help him feel
like he’s worth something. In a subplot, Snoopy works on a story with his newly
found typewriter about his battles with the Red Baron, taking some inspiration
from Charlie Brown’s story-line.
First
off, the animation is absolutely gorgeous. It captures the look of the comic
strip and Schulz and Melendez’s style in the best way you could with 3D
technology. Even with the scenes of Snoopy and the Red Baron, it never tries to
one-up itself and be bigger than it needs to be. Steve Martino, the director of
“Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who,” really did his research on how to make sure
this stayed true to form, keeping it to the timeless setting that the comic was
best known for, complete with rotary phones, the kite eating tree, the
football, anything the comic is known for.
Another
major thing this film was faithful about was the voice acting. No matter what
the circumstance, all the “Peanuts” material had its cast be entirely composed
of newcomers. The kids aren’t played by any big name actors to get people in
the seats, they’re children played by children. In fact, the only known
celebrity in the film is Kristen Chenoweth, who plays a part in Snoopy’s
fantasy as a love interest, Fifi. Luckily, Chenoweth was able to emulate the same
speech patterns and noises that Bill Melendez did for Snoopy, so the same could
be done when playing her character. Kudos to her for putting in that much
effort.
If I
did have any complaints, there’d only be slight the slight nitpick. While I
love how the film does put focus on Charlie Brown, since this is his story, I
would have like a few more moments with the rest of the characters. We do get a
lot of great moments with them, as well as a few nods to classic “Peanuts”
moments like “Christmas Time Is Here” and so forth, but I was actually wishing
for some of those moments to last a little longer. I feel like instead of “The
Peanuts Movie,” it probably would have fit better being called “The Charlie
Brown and Snoopy Movie,” especially since Charles Schulz himself admitted to
saying he didn’t like the comic being called “Peanuts.” But like I said, that’s
just me trying to find fault in something that does everything right. I really
do hope this film becomes a success, because Hollywood should take note on how
to do adaptations right.
Overall,
“The Peanuts Movie” is everything you wanted. Everything that they did in this
film was spot on, and there’s not a damn thing wrong with it. If you haven’t
seen this movie, go watch it in theaters, and relive a time from your youth
when Charlie Brown was something to always look forward to.
Rating: 10/10
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