Year: 2015
Director: Steve Martino
Starring: Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez, Alexander Garfin, Hadley Belle Miller, and Mariel Sheets
Tagline: The story of an underdog. And his dog.
Synopsis: Charlie Brown tries to impress the Little Red-Haired Girl while Snoopy does battle with his nemesis, the Red Baron.
Tagline: The story of an underdog. And his dog.
Synopsis: Charlie Brown tries to impress the Little Red-Haired Girl while Snoopy does battle with his nemesis, the Red Baron.
Review
Like many, I grew up always knowing who Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, Linus, and Lucy were. The holiday season included watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and of course, A Charlie Brown Christmas. When I saw that there would be a new movie starring the Peanuts gang, I was nervous how a wonderful element of my childhood would be treated. Have no fear. Charles Schulz might well have personally handed the filmmakers a box with all his comic strips labelled "Handle with Care," for that is how the movie was made. It helped that Schulz's son and grandson were the writers.
There's a line in The Incredibles: "There's no school like the old school." The Peanuts Movie is an old school treasure. This isn't a slick, modernized Charlie Brown shoehorned into 21st century pop culture. Watching the film was a 90-minute helping of nostalgia. Charlie Brown still has a rotary phone (and gets tangled in the cord). Lucy still charges a nickle for her psychiatric counsel. Snoopy still taps out his novel on a typewriter. And it is a world where all the neighborhood kids get together to play baseball, go ice skating, or fly kites.
Peanuts is also (relatively) free from gimmicks. Bucking the celebrity voice trend, all the kids are voiced by actual kids. The biggest celebrity in the cast list is Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda from the original Broadway cast of Wicked) as Fifi, Snoopy's love interest. And she doesn't even have dialogue. Just like Snoopy, she is limited to conversation-like sounds. Speaking of the famed Beagle, he and pal Woodstock are both voiced by Bill Melendez, who voiced them in the original TV specials. The filmmakers used archived voice recordings to have Melendez bring Snoopy to life once more. Oh, and if you are wondering, all adults in the film are "voiced" by a trombone, just as they should be.
The only touch of modernization was in the form of a few pop songs worked into the story. Even that was low key. Most of the music is the familiar melodies kids like me grew up with, including the inimitable "Linus and Lucy" theme.
One of the elements that made me, and others, nervous about Peanuts was the animation style. How do you take something as fundamentally two-dimensional as a comic strip and make it using modern 3D computer animation? Very carefully and lovingly. And it works. The artists were painstakingly faithful to the pencil sketch source material. Though made in a computer, there's still a hand drawn feel to the film. There are even some two-dimensional elements woven in as part of the style. The result is something beautiful, both familiar and new, like a classic car that has been dusted off, fine-tuned, and given a fresh coat of shiny paint.
Peanuts is about as kid friendly a movie as I know of. It is rated G. Yes, G. The Peanuts gang are as clean, wholesome, and fun as the TV specials and comic strips. There was not a crass or boorish joke to be found (although there were plenty in the movie trailers that preceded the film). There were no adult jokes slipped in. The only things that will go over little kids' heads are who the Red Baron is and why the telephone has a cord attached.
If all the above were not enough reason to see The Peanuts Movie, see it for its good message. Charlie Brown is an everyman. He's not a "winner" in the worldly sense. His baseball team never wins. His kite never soars. And he can never kick the football. Time and time again he gets knocked down by life. And yet he always gets back up, dusts himself off, and tries again. He perseveres. Throughout the story, he demonstrates the truthfulness of the Broadway play's title: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He is good. And being good is better than being a "winner."
I completely enjoyed The Peanuts Movie. Did I mention it's funny? Because it is really funny. I think there was a grin on my face the entire film. If you love Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang, do yourself a favor and check out The Peanuts Movie. And stay through the comics-strewn credits for one final chuckle.
There's a line in The Incredibles: "There's no school like the old school." The Peanuts Movie is an old school treasure. This isn't a slick, modernized Charlie Brown shoehorned into 21st century pop culture. Watching the film was a 90-minute helping of nostalgia. Charlie Brown still has a rotary phone (and gets tangled in the cord). Lucy still charges a nickle for her psychiatric counsel. Snoopy still taps out his novel on a typewriter. And it is a world where all the neighborhood kids get together to play baseball, go ice skating, or fly kites.
Peanuts is also (relatively) free from gimmicks. Bucking the celebrity voice trend, all the kids are voiced by actual kids. The biggest celebrity in the cast list is Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda from the original Broadway cast of Wicked) as Fifi, Snoopy's love interest. And she doesn't even have dialogue. Just like Snoopy, she is limited to conversation-like sounds. Speaking of the famed Beagle, he and pal Woodstock are both voiced by Bill Melendez, who voiced them in the original TV specials. The filmmakers used archived voice recordings to have Melendez bring Snoopy to life once more. Oh, and if you are wondering, all adults in the film are "voiced" by a trombone, just as they should be.
The only touch of modernization was in the form of a few pop songs worked into the story. Even that was low key. Most of the music is the familiar melodies kids like me grew up with, including the inimitable "Linus and Lucy" theme.
One of the elements that made me, and others, nervous about Peanuts was the animation style. How do you take something as fundamentally two-dimensional as a comic strip and make it using modern 3D computer animation? Very carefully and lovingly. And it works. The artists were painstakingly faithful to the pencil sketch source material. Though made in a computer, there's still a hand drawn feel to the film. There are even some two-dimensional elements woven in as part of the style. The result is something beautiful, both familiar and new, like a classic car that has been dusted off, fine-tuned, and given a fresh coat of shiny paint.
Peanuts is about as kid friendly a movie as I know of. It is rated G. Yes, G. The Peanuts gang are as clean, wholesome, and fun as the TV specials and comic strips. There was not a crass or boorish joke to be found (although there were plenty in the movie trailers that preceded the film). There were no adult jokes slipped in. The only things that will go over little kids' heads are who the Red Baron is and why the telephone has a cord attached.
If all the above were not enough reason to see The Peanuts Movie, see it for its good message. Charlie Brown is an everyman. He's not a "winner" in the worldly sense. His baseball team never wins. His kite never soars. And he can never kick the football. Time and time again he gets knocked down by life. And yet he always gets back up, dusts himself off, and tries again. He perseveres. Throughout the story, he demonstrates the truthfulness of the Broadway play's title: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He is good. And being good is better than being a "winner."
I completely enjoyed The Peanuts Movie. Did I mention it's funny? Because it is really funny. I think there was a grin on my face the entire film. If you love Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang, do yourself a favor and check out The Peanuts Movie. And stay through the comics-strewn credits for one final chuckle.
Quotable Quotes
- "It was a dark and stormy night ... " -- Snoopy's novel
- "Good grief." -- Charlie Brown
- "I can't afford a mortgage! What if I'm put into escrow?" -- Charlie Brown
- "Wah wah-wah." -- All adults
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