Review of The Peanuts Movie (2015) by Kenneth E — 21 Mar 2016

The biggest surprise about "The Peanuts Movie" is less of a surprise and more like a huge sigh of relief; Fox and Blue Sky Studios could have easily unleashed all mediocracy and turned Charles M. Schultz' characters into hipper, slicker, entities of the modern world (with probably better box office intake and respect from kids these days,) but the higher-ups resisted that urge and kept things classy. I respect that. Nowhere in this film does Lucy pull out an iPhone and text her friends. Nowhere does Linus play Nintendo. In fact, all characters behave in exactly the same way one would expect them to. The Peanuts characters have always survived the test of time due to the simplicity of both character design and true-to-life situations experienced by all kids. Remembering what truly makes Peanuts special, this film delivers where it matters the most. Snoopy is the lovable mischievous beagle, (all grunts and whines provided by the incorporation of original audio clips by legendary Bill Melendez.) His death-defying ariel missions playing out as a side-story are true to Schultz' "The Great Pumpkin," but will also please kids familiar with the misadventures of "Phineas & Ferb"'s Perry the Platypus. The main character himself, Charlie Brown, is the boy who can't get anything right, whether it is flying a kite, kicking a football, or saying Hi to the little Red-Headed Girl across the street. Lucy is still the loud-mouth know-it-all we know and love. Everybody else is treated with the same level of respect. I particularly admire the senseless babble talk of grown-ups and the inclusion of the Kite-Eating-Tree.

However, "The Peanuts Movie" is not a perfect film for three reasons. The first reason has to do with the fact that during the entire film, (especially prevalent in the first half,) filmmakers were OVERLY paranoid in staying truthful to source material, and as a result, instead of inventing new situations and dialogue, they did the cheap route by repackaging existing dialogue from Charlie Brown's TV specials of the 1960s. Having watched "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and "Charlie Brown's Christmas" every year since I was born, I can say confidently that I know those tv special like the back of my hand: seeing the same dialogue recycled in every way possible made long for the scriptwriter to do something new. Heck, they could have at least re-worded phrases like: "Help! I've been kissed by a dog!" Into something more substantial. The second problem I had with the film was the schoolroom scene, in that I found it odd how Sally was in the same classroom as the rest of the children. I was always under the impression that Sally was much younger. She should not have been in the same room as Linus, Charlie, and Lucy. Finally, the third problem I had with the film is the animation; I am hesitant to say the animation disappointed me because Blue Sky Studios spent so much work successfully capturing the facial expressions and mannerism of the original Shultz characters... My disappointment lies with the backgrounds, which are often as 3D as a standard run-of-the-mill CG toon. I found it clashing how CG cars and buses would be included in the same frame as paper-cut-out-looking people. One scene featuring a photorealistic World War I dogfight between Snoopy and the Red Baron was particularly clashing.

But as a whole, "The Peanuts Movie" retained all the magic and simplicity of the TV specials and comic strips. Charles Schultz' fabulous characters are known and loved by millions, and the final moments when Charlie Brown finally gets the courage to speak to the Little Red-Headed Girl may bring tears of joy to older fans. Because let's face it... In all the decades of Charlie Brown's comic strip mis-adventures, (most of them which ended in disappointment,) not once did he ever muster enough courage to talk to that girl.