Like many a generation, I grew up with one of the most
iconic franchises in all of pop culture; the ‘Peanuts’ franchise. The
adventures of the ‘lovable loser’ Charlie Brown were first introduced through a
daily comic strip created by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in 1950. The
comic ran for nearly 50 years from 1950 to 2000, ending a month before the
passing of Schulz on February 12, 2000. Aside from the comics, the series has
also been known for numerous TV specials, almost all of which were made by the
duo of producer Lee Mendelson and director Bill Melendez, many of them centered
on major holidays like Christmas (the first and easily most famous ‘Peanuts’
special) and Thanksgiving. As for this year, which marks the 65th
anniversary of the comic strip’s initial debut, the Peanuts gang now come to
the big-screen in a brand-new computer animated film, ‘The Peanuts Movie’. This
is actually the fifth ‘Peanuts’ film to be released following 1969’s ‘A Boy
Named Charlie Brown’, 1972’s ‘Snoopy, Come Home’, 1977’s ‘Race for Your Life,
Charlie Brown’, and 1980’s ‘Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!)’,
but it’s the first in 35 years and definitely the biggest to date given the
crew working on it. The film is produced by Blue Sky Studios, ‘Bridesmaids’
director Paul Feig is also one of the producers, and the screenplay was
co-written by Schulz’s son Craig and his son Bryan. And amidst all of the
skepticism from film fans, this team turned out something that’s truly special.
For Charlie Brown (Noah Schnapp), nothing ever seems to go
his way, from trying to fly a kite, which almost always ends up in a tree, to
playing baseball, where his pitches always end up knocking him straight out of
his clothes. But one day, when a new kid, the ‘Little Red-Haired Girl’
(Francesca Capaldi), moves to the neighborhood, Charlie Brown is almost
instantly smitten by her. At the same time, though, he’s worried that his
constant bad luck will also ruin his chances of attracting her attention. With
the advice of ‘local psychiatrist’ Lucy (Hadley Belle Miller), Charlie Brown,
with the help of his loyal dog Snoopy (voiced by the late Bill Melendez via
archival recordings that are also used for Woodstock), begins looking for some
way to turn his luck around, become a ‘winner’, and most importantly woo the
Little Red Haired Girl. As a result, Charlie Brown finds himself embarking on a
life-changing adventure where his true character shines through even with all
of the unlucky things that happen to him. Meanwhile, Snoopy embarks on an
adventure of his own. After finding a typewriter in the school dumpster (after
attempting to go to school with Charlie Brown and the other kids), Snoopy
begins to write about the World War I Flying Ace as he fights his arch-nemesis,
the Red Baron.
Compared to numerous other films that were based on popular media
franchises, ‘The Peanuts Movie’ is easily one of the most faithful adaptations
of its source material because the filmmakers clearly had a lot of passion for
this beloved franchise and that truly shows in the final product. This is not a
case where the characters were translated into modern times to make them ‘hip’
for younger audiences. This film still has the characters using land-line
telephones and typewriters. It’s full of numerous references to the classic TV
specials, from a mention by Linus of the infamous ‘Great Pumpkin’ to even a few
re-creations of classic moments, like the ice-skating sequence from ‘A Charlie
Brown Christmas’. All of this helps make the film a charming piece of nostalgia
for fans of the franchise along with the film’s excellent animation. I know
that there were those out there who were questioning the decision to translate
the world of ‘Peanuts’ into computer animation but the end result is something
truly special. It may be computer animated but it is very much faithful to the
hand-drawn animation style that the franchise is known for, right down to the
fact that sometimes the film actually implements that exact style into the
animation, from thought bubbles that use the classic hand-drawn animation to
the imperfections in how the lines were drawn that made Schulz’s comics so
endearing in the first place.
But ultimately one of the biggest strengths of the film
comes in its writing; its story, its characters, and the messages that it
conveys that make it such a great story for younger audiences. Some critics
have stated that the film isn’t that ‘ambitious’ in terms of its plot and while
I will admit that the plot is rather simple compared to other animated films, that
is by no means a bad thing when it comes to this film. For one thing, the
messages that are conveyed in this film are really great life-lessons for kids.
Things may never seem to go Charlie Brown’s way but he never gives up and as he
comes to learn, who you are as a person is more important than whatever you may
accomplish in life. And of course, all of these characters are iconic and the
voice cast does an excellent job in bringing these characters to life. Aside
from Snoopy and Woodstock being voiced by archival recordings of the late Bill
Melendez and Kristin Chenoweth voicing Snoopy’s love interest Fifi in his
fantasy sequences, the main characters are all voiced by generally unknown
child actors. The most notable of the bunch is Francesca Capaldi as both the
Little Red-Haired Girl and Frieda, who starred in the Disney Channel show ‘Dog
with a Blog’, but for the most part everyone else in the voice cast are
basically newcomers. And ultimately that was the best route that the filmmakers
could take because it helps maintain the natural atmosphere that was also a
defining trait of the franchise.
There’s usually quite a lot of skepticism that film fans
tend to have whenever it comes to a film that is based off of a popular
franchise, namely because they fear that it won’t stay true to the spirit of
its source material. But then you have a film like ‘The Peanuts Movie’, which
is… quite frankly one of the best films of the year. And that’s because it does
stay true to the source material from its terrific animation that honors the
classic traditional 2-D animation style of the franchise while translating it
into the realm of computer animation to its heartwarming story with strong
messages like how it’s not about your accomplishments that define you but who
you are as a person. There seriously isn’t anything I can think of that I
disliked about this film and to be perfectly frank, I don’t even want to say
anything bad about it. I really, really, really loved this film just as much as
I love this franchise. Believe me when I say folks that by the end, there was
nothing but a big smile on my face as I saw these lovable characters translated
perfectly to the big screen. Truly this is something that Charles Schulz
would’ve been proud of; it was a project that was done with love from all who
worked on it, resulting in one of the best feel-good films of the year. If you’re
a ‘Peanuts’ fan, I’m certain that you’re going to love this film and for those
who aren’t familiar with the franchise, this will serve as a really nice
introduction to this iconic franchise and its beloved characters.
Rating: 5/5!
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