There were a few brief years during my childhood when I spent lazy hours reading Charles Schulz iconic Peanuts, something which was most certainly inspired by my introduction to the holiday specials. Eventually my tastes changed and I gravitated to other comic literature, mostly those involving super heroes, and while I reached a point where I outright couldn’t stand Peanuts and failed to see any humor in the strip, there was also that child within me which still clung to those fond memories of the specials. I reintroduced myself to them years later after I started reviewing movies and discovered they still held a very special charm for me and a few years after my daughter was born I shared that memory with her as we watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Christmas, both of course at the appropriate seasonal time.
While Peanuts isn’t something which I would consider sacred, I was dismayed when I saw the first teaser for the upcoming Peanuts movie. It had been thirty-five years since Charlie Brown and the gang last were seen on the big screen in Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!) and while Schulz gone, there certainly seemed to be no reason to bring them back and especially not as a computer animated film. My daughter however isn’t as jaded to these things at this early point in her life and reluctantly I took her to see the movie.
The Peanuts Movie isn’t set at any particular time in the series since the characters themselves never age but it does open and spends a majority of its time during the winter months. The gang is surprised when a new kid moves into the neighborhood, the Little Red-Haired Girl, a Charlie Brown is immediately smitten with her once she becomes a part of their class. He tries everything he can think of to get her to notice him but as the case often is, it ends in disaster and makes him look worse than before, at least in his eyes. As the school year moves on something unexpected happens. Charlie Brown ends up with the highest test score not only in his class, but the entire school He becomes an instant celebrity among the kids but when he’s finally awarded for his achievement he’s shocked to discover that the perfect test doesn’t belong to him at all and it seems as though it’s another setback in his efforts to gain even a small bit of attention from the Little Red-Haired Girl.
The Peanuts Movie could have ultimately been a disaster and I’m certain I’m not alone in my immediate disgust seeing a now classic group of comic strip characters presented in computer animated form. However right from the beginning of the movie you’ll find that regardless of your thoughts on the original, the movie stays true to the source material and connects with the comic strip as well as the holiday specials. The movie works in classic pieces of Vince Guaraldi’s familiar music and opens with “Skating,” a piece which any fan of the animated specials is going to find themselves saying, “Try to catch snowflakes on your tongue. It’s fun.”
But it isn’t just the music that is worked into the film. While you’ll hear a number of very familiar Peanuts selections, the movie works to include every character in some capacity. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Woodstock are the main focus but there is plenty of room for Sally, Linus and Lucy, Schroder, Pig Pen, Violet, Peppermint Patty, Marcy, and the rest of the gang. Over the years there have been a number of different actors cast in these roles and for this version, a majority of them sound similar to those heard in the original holiday specials. They might not be exact but often they are close enough to create some degree of nostalgia in those who have great memories of them.
The movie might be very basic when it comes to the plot, but it’s how things are presented which is where the magic is. Everything that you’ve come to remember and appreciate about the Peanuts is found to some degree here. It might be a brief name mention such as Linus bringing up the Great Pumpkin, a familiar scene of the children dancing and later caroling, Lucy’s disgust with being “kissed” by Snoopy, and his infamous imaginary battles with the Red Baron. These are remembered from the specials, but the movie goes into the strip itself. Snoopy and his typewriter are seen a number of times as he works on a story about the love of his life, Fifi, as he tries to once again overcome the Red Baron or there’s Charlie Brown’s encounters with the dreaded Kite-Eating Tree. The reality is that while there would have been the possibility to “modernize” the characters and their surroundings, it never happens. The Peanut Movie stays very true to its roots and doesn’t try and work in too many things which would be unacceptable in the eyes of fans. Snoopy doesn’t replace the typewriter with a laptop, Lucy hasn’t taken to social media to sell her psychiatric services, Schroder isn’t getting rid of the piano for a keyboard anytime soon, and the gang is exactly how you remember them.
Keeping with the concept of the series is one thing, but the next question might be if the change in animation style makes any difference and to be honest, it doesn’t. The Peanuts Movie might be modern in that regard, but once again it stays very true to the character designs. Not only that, there are times when the movie works in traditional animation which is often does as black and white which feels like it’s honoring the comic strip, and the characters eyes for example haven’t been drastically changed. Often it’s like seeing a 3D version of the characters but with expressions which closely resembled their original style. Computer animation has allowed drastic improvements to the dogfights scenes which in most animated releases where seen as rather flat and one-dimensional but now they are 3D sequences packed with action and humor. I don’t believe that every classic piece of animation could make the transition quite as well and what has been done is very impressive and still brings with it a great sense of nostalgia.
Most of the extras included with the blu-ray are very short. The longest of them, You Never Grow Up, Charlie Brown, is a making of feature with quite a few interviews and is probably the most interesting extra on the disc. There are a few short bits about Snoopy and his kin, three different learn to draw features, music videos, art galleries and a collection of trailers. The blu-ray of course also comes with a DVD copy as well as a voucher code for a Digital HD version of the movie.
As opposed to this movie as I was when it was announced and I started seeing the trailer, I have to admit that it’s actually an incredibly faithful, loyal reboot to the classic comic strip. I believe that Charles Schulz would approve of what has been done here and even for those who have outgrown Charlie Brown and the gang, there is definitely going to be more than just a moment or two when those childhood memories come back to you and you can’t help but smile.
Mike is the resident reviewer for Couponing to Disney and his own site Underland Online. He has a toddler daughter and is obsessed with Haunted Mansion and all things Disney. You can read Mike’s complete bio here.