Review of The Peanuts Movie (2015) by Ethan P — 08 Oct 2016

Good Grief. The quaint little world of Peanuts has never looked so vivid or felt so genuine. It captures the sweet, melancholy charm of the old cartoons, but refreshes its to connect with a contemporary audience. It may be safe and harmless, but it is also earnest and fun. It is aesthetically awesome. It adds a third dimension, an awful lot of color and brilliant detail to its minimal comic strip origins. The simple lines and familiar faces are still there, but it's filled with vibrant backdrops and endlessly clever animation. Watching snoopy day-dream about saving FiFi back in WWII, watching him sleuth around the house and contort to steel Charlie's cupcakes. It was fun to see the magic of the old comics be brought back with such style and creativity.

It also captures the feel of the comics almost effortlessly. It's still as sarcastic and ironic as it was 50 years ago. The characters all look and sound exactly as they should and their familiar mannerisms and phrases offer welcome nostalgia. Lucy smothering Schroeder and constantly bashing Charlie, Peppermint Patty being a charming slacker with a crush on "Chuck" and a habit of ignoring her friend, Marcy, who calls her Sir. Linus, Charlie, and Snoopy were all in vintage form, just as I remembered them and that was really fun to see them so thoughtfully and accurately presented. "I've been kissed by a dog!" and "Big brother!" were some of my favorite lines. I also thought it had a lot of sweet humor, with Charlie's sister merchandising and interviewing her brother, Snoopy meddling with Charlie's plans. It had a lot of witty and fun moments.

It's also a touching story about an insecure kid who gets a crush on a girl and finds he isn't good enough for her. He tries to impress her at the talent show, at the dance, in the classroom, but none of it pans out. At the end, when all of his ideas have fallen through, he finds out she likes him too. Not because of what he's done, but who he is. And that's an important message that also offered some catharsis for the viewers who maybe used to be that awkward boy too timid to talk to cute little girl at the front of the room. They also pulled that character off brilliantly, never introducing her or really showing her face until the very end. Peanuts is a fresh spin on old beloved comic and I thought it was awesome.