The Peanuts Movie (2015) Review!!!

Synopsis – Snoopy embarks upon his greatest mission as he and his team take to the skies to pursue their arch-nemesis, while his best pal Charlie Brown begins his own epic quest back home to win the love of his life.

My Take – Who doesn’t know Snoopy? He is probably one of the most popular cartoon canines around along with Scooby Doo, Pluto & Courage the cowardly. The daily newspaper comic strip of Charlie Brown and friends (AKA The Peanuts) has been around for decades. Created by Charles M. Shulz in the 1950s about a bald headed kid doing his best to get by in life like any other average Joe, seemed to stick with its audience. Schulz passed away in 2000, far too long to see his largely popular foundation to get a big screen treatment. Honestly, I figured it would be a quick cash-in on a nostalgic property, kind of like The Smurfs, the Scooby Doo films, the terrible Marmaduke or more recently, Goosebumps (which was kinda fun actually). I was also afraid they were going to sneak in some innuendos and maybe some childish toilet humor, much in the same sense. I feared the worst for this movie, and I grew up reading the strips & watching the TV specials. The whole idea of taking something from the past is to either bring it to current time or at the very minimum reintroduce it to a new generation as it was when it was originally made from its inception. Schulz did have the classic animated specials for the holidays and even a short-lived TV show, but having it brought to the big screen never felt like it was ever a part of his intentions. Perhaps it never was, but it’s safe to say this will not make him roll in his grave. This movie has a charm and feel to it, that very few “kids” movies do nowadays. If you are familiar with Charles M. Shulz‘s work, you will instantly know that this movie was created with pure passion, and was held close to the heart during the whole process. The art direction feels just like the old style hand drawn strips, not like a cheap 3D imitation like other companies do. They invested time and effort into capturing the soul of the characters.Would I recommend this movie? Absolutely! This movie may not be a huge success, but it’s coming from a source that really hasn’t been hurting, or lacking success.

Taking a look at the credits, it is clear as to why this film is as good as it is. First, Steve Martino, the same director of Dr. Seuss‘ adaptation Horton Hears a Who! (2008), directs it. Secondly, the descendants of the creator himself, Bryan and Craig Schulz were the writers. From that alone there seems to be a decent amount of people who care about this project. The plot is the classic story for new generations that are not familiar with The Peanuts crew. The story follows Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) and his friends who discover a little red-haired girl has moved into their neighborhood & has joined their class. Charlie immediately develops a crush on her, but is frustrated that his long-running streak of bad luck will prevent him from ever getting noticed. Lucy (voiced by Hadley Belle Miller) advises Charlie to try being more confident. Hence Charlie Brown decides to embark upon a series of new activities in hope of finding one that will get the Little Red-Haired Girl to notice him. In a side story, his dog Snoopy (voiced by Bill Melendez), upon discovering a typewriter in a dumpster, decides to write a novel about his alter-ego, the World War I Flying Ace, trying to save his lover Fifi from the Red Baron. He ends up acting out his adventure, coming across the Peanuts gang several times along the way. He successfully defeats the Red Baron and rescues Fifi. However, as he is celebrating his victory with Fifi and his siblings, he learns that the Red Baron has survived, causing him to furiously declare revenge. Anyone who enjoys Snoopy and friends will continue to enjoy how this film takes the things people love about them and runs with it. There are numerous references to other iconic Peanuts moments; the list is long. There’s also a lot of new material as well. An example of this is when Charlie Brown ends up becoming the most popular kid in the school and how his life dramatically changes. These different scenarios are important because they put Charlie Brown in new situations probably not even the veterans of the comic have scene. Also, Snoopy’s story arc is delightfully written as the allegory to Charlie Brown’s life struggle where the Red Baron is Chuck’s annoying bad luck that doesn’t cease to leave him alone. It’s a simple love story, but that’s what this film does so well. They provide us with grandeur lessons through straightforward means. In this case Charlie Brown learns about confidence, being true to himself, and perseverance–lessons that can have just as much impact on the adults watching as it does on their children. What the movie does best is provide so much depth to Charlie Brown’s character without straying away from the already established depth that we’ve known him to have throughout the years. It doesn’t try to reinvent the characters for a modern world–it appropriately fits this story-arc into the Peanuts canon without disrupting it.

Now the movie will not be for everyone. Sure, those with nostalgia for the franchise will immediately love it, newer generations may enjoy the humor that is in there, and for some, it may just be too bland and slow. The only time the film slows down is when the Snoopy story-line comes to a close and finishes with a somewhat lengthy finale. The subplot is actually a fun addition to the movie, since each segment only lasts about 45 seconds, but the climax of it all runs for about 4 minutes and slightly takes away from the momentum of the film. The animation is another solid component to this feature. Headed by senior animator Joseph Antonuccio (Rio), almost every scene flows extremely well. There are areas where the animation looks choppy but this was apparently done on purpose to resemble that of the older films. As long as there’s a reason. One thing though that stands out is the 3D texturing on this 2D film and that doesn’t mean watching it in 3D either. The fact that Charlie Brown’s shoes look like real tangible leather and Snoopy’s fur is made up of individual follicles is astounding. The voice actors to this production are well cast and perfectly blend with their animated counter parts. Noah Schnapp as Charlie Brown was perfect, Alexander Garfin as Linus was great, Hadley Belle Miller as Lucy had the best attitude to match, Bill Melendez (if were still alive would’ve been 99 this year!) voices Snoopy and it’s as cute as ever. The list is too long to fully mention but all cast members perform their roles spot on. For writing of various characters they all get a decent amount of screen time too and their own gags. There are times when they do act in ways that seem rather silly but these are children based characters, which makes them gullible so that is acceptable. On the whole, ‘The Peanuts Movie’ is extremely well-made animated film & does exactly what adaptations should do: be very faithful regardless of current audience, keep it very close to the source, don’t try to spice it up with unnecessary additions, and do plenty of callbacks to the original work. Blue Sky does an absolutely phenomenal job transforming the world of Schultz into the computer-animated-obsessed cinematic world we see today. Peanuts has always had a mass appeal, but there do exist people that don’t like it. If you don’t enjoy it, or even if you adore it, I for one, respect your choices. Give this one a shot, it may surprise you in the end. This is the best Blue Sky has released since the also-faithful Horton Hears a Who and one of the best films of the entire year. Seriously.